The State with the Best Education Wins!
	MATR Newsletter - Tue Feb 9, 2016

This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events Register Now For The Webcast - Disruption: Survival Of The Fittest, 2/9 Leadership Lunch And Learn: Supply Chain Optimization, 2/9, Bozeman, MT ISO 9001:2015 Top 20 Changes, 2/10, Kalispell, Montana The NIH SBIR/STTR Program Overview & Solicitations , 02/10, Helena Sentinel High School S.T.E.A.M. Community Information Night, 2/10, Missoula Business Strategies 2016, 2/10, Billings, Montana Nonprofit Life Stages, 02/11, Kalispell Give Local Missoula Board Engagement Bootcamp, 2/11, Missoula, Montana Job And Career Fair At Blackfeet Community College, 2/11, Browning,Montana Hellgate Venture Network - Erik Guzik, Founder & CEO Of VAST Next Generation Learning, 2/11, Missoula Does Your Company... Want To Sell To The Government? Meet One-on-one With Government Contracting Officers, 2/11, Billlin Conrad Anker's "MERU", 2/12, Showtime 10th Annual Women's Policy Leadership Institute!, 2/12-13, Helena, Montana Senator Tester To Host 16th Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 2/16, Billings, Montana Sen. Tester's Small Business Workshop - Financing Your Business In The 21st Century, 2/16, Billings MATR supporter: New Events The NIH SBIR/STTR Program Overview & Solicitations , 02/10, Helena Sentinel High School S.T.E.A.M. Community Information Night, 2/10, Missoula ISO 9001:2015 Top 20 Changes, 2/10, Kalispell, Montana Give Local Missoula Board Engagement Bootcamp, 2/11, Missoula, Montana Hellgate Venture Network - Erik Guzik, Founder & CEO Of VAST Next Generation Learning, 2/11, Missoula Conrad Anker's "MERU", 2/12, Showtime Senator Tester To Host 16th Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 2/16, Billings, Montana The Honest Leader, 02/18, Missoula Developing Windows Azure and Web Services, 02/22, Msla,Hln,Kal,Boz,GFalls VMware vSphere Install, Configure Manage 5.5, 2/22, Msla,Hln,Kal,Boz,GFalls Sales Basics And Best Practices For Small Business Owners, 3/1-8-15, Missoula, Montana Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), 3/9, Billings, Montana Former SEAL Rob O'Neill To Speak April 11 At MSU Save The Date! 5/2, Manufacturing And International Trade Day, Missoula MATR supporter: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page

Sadly, the days of people using proper English are went.

Montana District Export Council seeking business leaders interested in helping strengthen export opportunities for Montana companies http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- Montana Access to Capital Surveys - Please take the 5 minute survey. Your input is very important http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html

Montana Department of Commerce

• Montana Department of Commerce - New Mobility West Community Assistance Overview & Application
  Applications for the Spring/Summer 2016 round of assistance under NMW's Community Assistance Program are being accepted through Friday, March 18th, 2015

Montana Technology Innovation Partnership

• The NIH SBIR/STTR Program Overview & Solicitations , 02/10, Helena
  Learn about their upcoming solicitations and have your questions answered by a direct representative from NIH's SBIR/STTR Program! Presenter: Betty Royster SBIR/STTR Communications Specialist National Institutes of Health Website: https://sbir.nih.gov/

Visit Montana - Montana Dept. of Tourism

• Visitors to Yellowstone Park ask some 'unique' questions - What's the best question you've heard?
  "I saw a bunch of bison crossing the river. Do they eat fish?"

Energy and Climate Change

• 9 Projects Defining the Next-Generation Electricity System
  In the early days of the smart grid, it was all about pilots. Now that change is truly underway, the projects are becoming more sophisticated.


• New Report Highlights the Costs of Ongoing Utility-Customer Data Divide
  Lost efficiency opportunities, disintermediation threats--why aren't utilities moving faster to share smart meter and energy data?


• Musk vs. Buffett, a Solar War in the Desert Heats Up
  The outcome of fight in Nevada could set the course for solar energy adoption across the country.


• A new way to store solar heat
  Material could harvest sunlight by day, release heat on demand hours or days later.


• Target to cease glass recycling in Missoula, local company hopes to partially step in
  There are currently no facilities in Montana that remelt glass and recycle it.


• Montana's geothermal credit mainly benefits the rich
  "The state's geothermal tax credit contains flaws that are found in many renewable tax credit programs. The benefits are concentrated in a small number of households and those households tend to have a much higher income than the average Montana family," said Brent Mead, director of the conservative Montana Policy Institute in Helena.


• Arcadia Power pitches Bozeman on wind power: but how does it work?
  Arcadia co-founder Ryan Nesbitt said the company is simply a middleman helping consumers tap a market large companies have already taken advantage of to choose to pay for clean power, even if the consumer's actual power supply is dirty.


• Driven by power outages and savings, towns look to microgrid
  The town of 5,000 is on the leading edge of a national campaign to develop "microgrids" designed to make communities more energy independent and the grid more resilient.


• Electric Grid Update Could Save Californians $1.4 Billion, Report Says
  Although the report was written by SolarCity, a solar electricity provider, the current model for utilities is broken and discourages people from investing in renewable energy sources.


• The Consumerization of Energy Is Just Beginning
  It's remarkable that fans went nuts over the launch of a battery -- a technology that usually just enables something interesting (like an iPhone) rather than being interesting in and of itself.


• PG&E Launches Community Solar Program Enabling Customers to Go 100% Renewable
  All solar projects will be built specifically to serve the program.

Come Home Montana

• Lincoln's only doctor leaving in June; replacement sought
  "We are committed to keeping health care services available in Lincoln. I am confident that's going to happen,"


• Montana Career Opportunities - Medical Director, Physician, Finance Director - PureView Health Center
  At PureView Health Center, you will work with a great team in a supportive environment that requires excellent communications, interpersonal and customer service skills.


• City of Bozeman, Montana Request for Proposals From Broadband Service
  Proposals must be received by the City Clerk at the above address on or before 5:00 p.m., March 3, 2016.


• Montana Talent Available - Masters in Business Administration and Public Administration
  I am experienced in assessing problems, anticipating risk, and providing efficient and effective solutions.

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• Billings, Montana 40 under Forty: Class of 2016
  They're high-achieving professionals, business owners, artists and managers who are all working to make Billings a better place.

Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana

• Montana Access to Capital Surveys - Please take the 5 minute survey. Your input is very important
  Please help us collect data about access to capital in Montana by completing the appropriate 5 minute survey below. This data will help us all better understand capital needs and availability.

Leadership Montana

• The One Leadership Skill That Impacts Overall Success
  The single most important skill of a good leader may not be what you think.

Montana Business

• Montana should prepare for inevitable energy future
  Eventually, the waves of change will wash over even the most entrenched interests that cling desperately and irrationally to the past.


• REC Silicon Washington closure won't affect Butte, spokesman says
  The Moses Lake plant, which produces polysilicon used in solar panels, is facing what the company calls a temporary shutdown of operation due to a trade war with China on solar panels.


• Montana's angling industry needs climate action
  The need for climate action in Montana is real and it is urgent if we wish to remain a destination place for world-class fly-fishing.

Montana Economic Development

• State's rosy economic outlook leaves something out -- reservations
  Pointing to a map during a presentation on economic development Friday, state Sen. Lea Whitford, D-Cut Bank. asked one of the state's top economic development workers: "Are you getting out into these communities?"


• Montana District Export Council seeking business leaders interested in helping strengthen export opportunities for Montana companies
  Council members play a major role in the planning and coordination of export activities for their communities.

TEDx Events in Montana

• Today's TED Talk Special Olympics let me be myself -- a champion
  Together with his fellow athletes, he invites you to join him at the next meet -- and challenges you to walk away with your heart unchanged.

Careers

• Turning Women's Empowerment Into Business
  "Everybody has a diversity initiative but..."

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• One of the Nation's Fastest Networks Serves Two of Its Poorest Counties
  An innovative approach, a can-do spirit, and a financial package that combined local capital with federal loans and grants have made the network possible.

Business Plan Forums

• Colorado Launches Statewide Open Innovation Challenge
  "Imagine Colorado" asks Coloradans to submit their best ideas to make kids healthier in exchange for $25,000 in prizes.

City Club Missoula

• City Club Missoula State of the Community Forum
  Some of the topics covered included the University's budget, new University programs that could increase enrollment, incarceration statistics, mental health and the possibility of creating a 100 year plan for the city.

Government

• BMI is wrong: Millions of healthy Americans labeled obese who could be charged more for insurance.
  "Our study should be the final nail in the coffin for BMI."


• Can Government Hiring Get Out of the Stone Age?
  "When private industry is expanding and the economy is growing, we can't compete."

Idaho Business

• Boise's GenZ advances to global competition for startups
  Success in two earlier rounds of the contest has already attracted investors


• Governor Otter's health care plan would cover Idaho's poorest -- until something goes wrong
  Health providers say it's a good first step but leaves Idaho's poorest at risk

North Dakota Business and Economic Development

• Built Up by Oil Boom, North Dakota Now Has an Emptier Feeling
  The "man camps" sprang up from the prairie in Williston, N.D., rows of trailers and modular steel boxes that housed thousands of workers chasing their fortunes in North Dakota's oil fields. But these days, the man camps are missing something: men.

Regional Business

• Hate your cable provider? There might be a way out
  Kanojia is now back at it, ready to combat cable companies with his wireless Internet service, Starry, which will have 1-gigabit-per-second Internet speeds.

Regional Economic Development

• Measuring Cities As They Race to the Top
  A city's entrepreneurial environment is the result of complex connections between ecosystem actors - from entrepreneurs, their mentors and funders, to government leaders and academic researchers - so the task to measure a city's performance is not an easy one.

Workforce Development

• Connecting Young Adults to Employment - Results from a National Survey of Service Providers
  A weak start in the labor market for the newest generation of workers means lower tax revenues and higher safety net expenditures for the country over time.


• If you don't build it -- the talent pool -- then they will not come.
  As attractive and traditional as some fields might be, the future is not going to sustain the same number of farmworkers and ranchers. There won't be as many jobs in the mines and forests. Lumber mills that once hired by the hundreds now can operate with a couple of dozen skilled workers.


• Governor Bullock Announces New Montana Workforce Training Program
  "Making workforce training and employment services available to more Montanans puts our state on the path of continued economic growth," said Governor Bullock. "As our economy continues to grow, the Montana HELP-Link plan provides employment opportunities for more hard working Montanans and creates a larger workforce for expanding businesses in Montana."

21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."

• A STEM curriculum introduces students to real-world engineering
  "They were so engrossed. They were just completely oblivious to the fact I was even in the room."

Education

• College is the new cable bundle. Do students deserve a 'Netflix'?
  As schools plow money into new dorms, administrative costs and sports stadiums, some students find themselves paying for "channels" they have no use for.

Montana Education Excellence

• Montanan - The Magazine of the University of Montana - Winter 2016
  The Last Best Space - UM graduates are unlocking the mysteries of space--what other planets look like, how astronauts can visit them, and whether there is, or ever was, life beyond Earth


• Montana State University Hall of Famer Nico Harrison rises to the top at Nike
  "It all starts in the community," Harrison said. "That's the most important thing (for an athlete)."


• University of Montana Creates New Health and Medicine Initiative
  UM President Royce Engstrom announced the new initiative in his mid-year report Wednesday evening, taking a big step toward revitalized efforts to promote UM and recruit new students.


• University of Montana: Hidden biases can influence hiring
  That demographic certainly does not reflect diversity, expected at a university.


• Governor Bullock, First Lady Announce $100,000 in Grants for Montana Schools to Implement Breakfast after the Bell
  Total grant funds this cycle consist of over $100,000 with special thanks to Albertson's Companies Foundation, Jeff Bridges, Share Our Strength/No Kid Hungry, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Round It Up Montana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, First Interstate Bank Foundation, Neptune Aviation Services, Smith's Food and Drug Stores, and FutureSync International.


• GOT CODE!? Missoula's Sentinel High Does
  Sentinel High School has what I believe to be the most innovative and cutting edge Computer Science (CS) and Information Technology (IT) education program of any school in the state of Montana, perhaps in an even larger region as well.


• Sentinel High School S.T.E.A.M. Community Information Night, 2/10, Missoula
  Learn about Sentinel's cutting edge courses in engineering, computer science & network engineering, digital media arts, and broadcasting


• Gazette opinion: What Billings can learn from Missoula about education success
  To improve its graduation rate, Billings community and school leaders ought to look carefully at Missoula's remarkable progress.


• The Missoula International School wins robotics competition at MSU
  "This is actually a survey to get students involved in engineering and robotics," said Steinhoff. "So they program the robots to do very specific things, like go a certain distance and stop, go a certain distance and stop."

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Montana State University, Wilcoxson's Ice Cream partner to create new 'Bobcat Batter' ice cream
  Bobcat Batter is part of the university's Montana Made Program which seeks to increase access to local food products.


• 'Montana Mafia' crucial in building entertainment scene in state - The University of Montana Entertainment Management Program
  The Montana group keeps expanding, and a new generation of entertainment managers, 140 strong, are hitting the scene through a program that MetraPark helped build at the University of Montana.

Community

• Community-development advocates look toward Butte's past, present and future
  As executive director of Butte's Local Development Corp. Pam Haxby-Cote puts it, "Butte was once a mining city, but now it's a city with a mine in it."


• Missoula, Montana resident spots possible wolf hunting elk herd on Mount Jumbo
  Photos taken by a Rattlesnake Valley resident may show the first wolf hunting elk on Mount Jumbo.

Funding and Building your Business

• The End of Pay Secrecy?
  Could one of the last workplace taboos be going by the wayside?


• 3 Tips to Get Major Media Interested in Your Business
  A much written about founder shares his secrets.


• 7 Steps to Master the Art of Persuasion
  The art of getting others to see things as you see them -- usually called persuasion -- is a key one for entrepreneurs, and it needs to be honed from the first day that you formulate your new idea.


• Bye-bye Internet bubble 2.0
  The ongoing slaughter in public Internet valuations.


• The Temptation of Co-Working Spaces
  Before you rush out to join a co-working space, there are pros and cons to consider.


• How a corporate spy swiped plans for DuPont's billion-dollar color formula
  Starting in the 1990s, if not earlier, China's government and Chinese state-run businesses began seeking ways to adopt DuPont's methods. Only they didn't approach the company to make a formal deal. According to U.S. law enforcement officials, they set out to rip off DuPont.

Connectivity & Communications

• San Francisco's Super Bowl 50 Tech Upgrades Produce Stronger Long-Term Wi-Fi Infrastructure for Citizens
  The Super Bowl tech announcements afford the city a chance to show off their tech, stress test it against a large influx of visitors, and ultimately produce a stronger infrastructure for citizens in the long-term.


• The Feds Have to Act to Get America Faster Wi-Fi
  But it could be faster. And better. The federal government just needs to pave the way for the next generation of Wi-Fi.

Government Technology

• Publishing platform visualizes government data for entrepreneurs
  DataPress is a platform that publishes raw data and helps non-technical users analyze and release open data.


• 5 Google Government Innovation Lab Projects Happening in San Joaquin County, Calif.
  The initiatives are viewed as part of a dramatic turning point for innovation in the county.


• New York CIO Declares Looming Staff Crisis
  Within the next few years, she said, the agency expects to lose 25 percent of its staff to retirement -- and those officials can't be replaced because union rules prohibit the hiring of anyone from outside government but entry-level workers.

Non-Profit News

• Montana Nonprofit Association - Board Training - Early bird rates end Monday 2/8 for Board Governance
  Don't miss your chance to save on registration for the first workshop in the 2016 Nonprofit Management Series. Join this session to learn how your board can be a strong, high-functioning, leading team focused on the success of your nonprofit.


• Give Local Missoula Board Engagement Bootcamp, 2/11, Missoula, Montana
  We'll be covering tools and best practices for engaging your board and expanding your reach on the Giving Day.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• Big Sky on the Big Screen: 'Walking Out' With Alex and Andrew Smith
  Filmed on location in Paradise Valley, Livingston and Bozeman, Walking Out earns the "Made-in-Montana" label.

Cool Stuff That's Coming

• Phones with seven-day battery life are promised
  A British fuel-cell developer that was first to put the technology harnessing the power of hydrogen into London's distinctive black cab said it's working on a system that would allow mobile phone users to charge just once a week.

Transportation

• Now Elon Musk Wants To Build An Electric Plane
  It would be capable of vertical takeoffs and landings, too.


• How One University Will Become Less Car-Centric
  Despite the city's transition away from the agricultural setting of its past, Fresno State has "operated as a car-campus, and made no efforts to change that."

---

To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page