Scaling Montana Speaker Series Featuring Xavier Rolet, former head of the London Stock Exchange – 3/27 – Billings, Kalispell, or Bozeman, or watch from your desk

Come Home Montana

• Alternative teacher licensing pathway gets approval in Montana

  Alternative teacher programs have been designed for people with a non-education bachelor’s degree and will usually lead to those taking the program getting a certificate or master’s degree.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

• Dorsey – AI regulation introduced in Europe – setting the way forward for the rest of the world or slowing down the adoption of new tech?

  As AI technology advances rapidly, its prospective uses seem endless. While the technology has many clear benefits, its far-reaching consequences and potential to infringe on privacy and other rights need to be addressed, and the European Union has led the way by introducing a regulation to do just that.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• White House Announces New Resources for Small Child Care Businesses

  The administration is planning to lean on the U.S. Small Business Administration to help it dispatch funds to alleviate America’s growing child care crisis.

• Frontier, United increasing service to Denver; Sun Country set

  Boil it down and Missoula Montana Airport Director Brian Ellestad said it will likely benefit customers in the way of ticket costs. And with the summer travel season close at hand, it may also require an additional security checkpoint.

• Big Sky Film Grant Deadline Extended!

  Up to $1.8 million in grant awards are available to filmmakers applying in one of four categories:

• Access to Finance for Small Businesses in Montana: 2nd report just released

  Part Two of the comprehensive report on “Access to Finance for Small Businesses in Montana” is released. This report delves into challenging landscape of small business financing in Montana, offering timely recommendations.

• Missoula-area wood industry closures mean ripple effects for workers, tax base, forest management

  Both Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake and Missoula’s Roseburg Forest Products particle plant announced closures this month.

• President of Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Neel Kashkari to Visit University of Montana April 8

  During the event, moderated by economist Bryce Ward, Kashkari will take questions from the public. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is one of 12 regional reserve banks in the U.S. Montana is one of the six states represented in Kashkari’s region.

• BLDC March Newsletter

  BLDC Annual Dinner Party & Awards Ceremony is May 9, 2024!

• Finally some truth from the timber industry

  As Todd Johnson, son of the mill’s founder, said: “today’s crisis is much worse than what was experienced in 2000, 2007, and 2015.  There is simply no better solution for the owners than to shut the mill down permanently.”

Great Falls Development Alliance

• Upcoming Trainings: Elevate Your Digital Footprint, Government Contracting and more!

  Questions about our trainings?

  Contact Jolene!

• Great Falls, Montana Energy Production Market Assessment and Economic Development Strategy Request for Proposals Great Falls Development Authority, Inc. March 20, 2024

  The purpose of the
  project is to determine market demand for increased renewable energy production,
  increased energy service businesses including energy efficiency retrofits and wind
  and solar installations, and to develop a strategy that we can implement over the
  next 3-5 years to attract investment in our trade area.

• GFDA Top Ten for 3-24-24

  GFDA has commissioned an analysis of the Economic Impact of Population Growth in Great Falls. The analysis will assess the cumulative economic impact of recent population growth from 2017-2022, estimate the cumulative economic impact of population growth over the next ten years if our population grows at the same rate as it did from 2010 to 2020, estimate cumulative economic impact of population growth over the next ten years if the Great Falls MSA grows at the same rate the state of Montana grew from 2010 to 2020, and the same if we grow at the national rate of the last ten years. Chmura Economic and Analytics will conduct the analysis.

Montana Business

• ‘Absolutely not correct’: Montana solar companies unite to stop the spread of misinformation

  “Essentially what they’re saying is, you don’t have to pay property taxes for ten years,” said Graham. “I mean, they are making it that bold, which is absolutely not correct.”

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

• New UM Study Reveals Unintended Consequences of Fire Suppression – Montana Governor Gianforte presses to extinguish all fires

  The study used computer simulations to show that attempting to suppress all wildfires results in fires burning with more severe ecological impacts, with accelerated increases in burned area beyond those expected from fuel accumulation or climate change.

Incubators and R&D

• “First plastic demonstrated to not create microplastics” has been tested

  Even when it’s ground into microparticles, 97% of an algae-based plastic biodegrades in compost and water in under seven months, a new study has reported. The researchers hope their plastic will eventually replace existing petroleum-based ones.

University Business Plan Competitions

• Applications open for Montana State’s $100K Venture Competition to be held on April 24

  The annual event is open to all undergraduate and graduate students from Montana University System-affiliated campuses, as well as MUS faculty and staff and alumni who graduated within the past 10 years from an MUS campus.

Careers

• The new science of optimism and longevity

  A growing body of research suggests that optimism plays a significant role in promoting both physical and mental well-being.

Transportation

• Battery Train Sets Distance Record — The Beginning Of Beautiful Fast Charging

  At West Ealing, where the GWR technology will be trialed in a real-world environment for the first time this spring, the UK train will charge for just 3 ½ minutes before restarting its journey on the Greenford branch line.

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• “Don’t Learn to Code, But Study This Instead…” says NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang

  I think a lot of people got it wrong what Jensen Huang, Co-Founder and CEO of NVIDIA was recently saying at the @WorldGovSummit . It is easy to grab a “hot” statement without considering the full context and the more important message about what we as humanity should focus more in the age of AI.

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