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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Nov 14, 2006 |
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." -- Winston Churchill
"Building Momentum- Keeping The Region's Economy Rolling, 11/15, Spokane, WA" http://www.matr.net/ev ... =1767
Boomtown Institute
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- The Agurban Issue 101 November 14, 2006
I’ve said many times before, but will continue to stress the importance, a community foundation has the ability to accomplish great things. If you don’t have one...start one today!
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- "Rules for Mentoring Entrepreneurs"
Mentors should stay in their comfort zones, stick mainly to their special expertise (“fastballs”), “ask hard questions in soft way”, and search for ways to add to company credibility and reduce risk.
Montana Education Excellence
- Should You Pay Extra For a Speedier Commute?
Telecommuting and the commuter-spending account has helped make my commute less expensive. Sure, spending more time with my family would be worth it even without those savings, but every penny helps.
- Rebuilding America’s Productive Economy: A Heartland Development Strategy
America’s economy may well be on the verge of a great resurgence largely unacknowledged by pundits, academics, and the media. The Heartland will play a critical role in that resurgence—if we develop the right policies.
Education
- American Indian Graduate Students from the University of Montana Win at National Science and Engineering Conference
Brian Hall, a Blackfeet doctoral student in pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, won the $1,500 first-place award for Best Overall Graduate Poster Presentation. Florence Gardipee, a Cherokee doctoral student studying fish and wildlife biology, earned $1,000 for placing among the top three Graduate Oral Presentations.
Montana Business
- Former ‘celebrity chef' researches the kids before reinventing school meals
“You have a brand-new senator who's an organic farmer,” Cooper told the Missoula audience. “Tell him we care about the national school lunch program. That's how we get these changes.”
- As Older Students Return to Classrooms an Industry Develops
Continuing education — that is, noncredit courses or classes taken after formal education — by those 50 or older is a $6 billion business.
- Questions remain as schools still struggle to implement No Child Left Behind
For educators, it's a double-whammy. The law mandates that teachers perform an impossible task. Then, it shines a spotlight on them.
- Rural Minnesota county invests early to help kids succeed
The Invest Early initiative grew out of a partnership formed by a local foundation, four school districts, a county human services agency, a community college and a Head Start program, among others. While designing Invest Early, the various partners faced a central question: In a rural county, is it possible to deliver high-quality early childhood education on a large scale? While it's too soon to give a definitive answer, early indications are promising.
- Tech literacy a core value at charter school
"Our kids have to be technologically literate, and we need to assess our kids' progress as frequently as we can."
- Big Givers Turn to Poorly Financed 2 Year Colleges
That interest is reflected in the decision a few years ago by a group of foundations — including Ford, the James Irvine Foundation, Lumina and the Heinz Endowments — to start meeting to learn more about community colleges.
- OPI, educators want to see major changes to No Child Left Behind
State Superintendent Linda McCulloch hopes the newly configured legislative bodies become more responsive to different states' needs. She and other educators point to at least three major changes they believe must take place — at least for Montana — when lawmakers finally dig into the act.
- As Math Scores Lag, a New Push for the Basics
For the second time in a generation, education officials are rethinking the teaching of math in American schools.
Montana Economic Development
- MATR Offers Outstanding Marketing Opportunities to Montana and Regional Companies and Organizations
MATR and its articles and posting are usually very high on the search engine rankings.
- Grupthink.com at Web 2.0 Summit - Walkin on the wild side with Lou Reed and Intel
Just a few of the companies I’ve chatted with in the last 48 hours:
- Air-Ryder of Helena helps people build their own airplanes
Boeing it's not, but Clarke's Air-Ryder, with 10 employees, is nonetheless an impressive operation. Clarke's company helps people build their own small aircraft from kits.
- Big Timber company promotes Old West style. "Women of the Wild West"
Agnew started the business more than a decade ago to create clothing that tapped into Western tradition. Although she grew up in Connecticut, Agnew sank deep roots when she moved to Montana nearly 25 years ago. She takes pride in bucking the outsourcing trend by having all of her clothing made in the United States.
- Billings dietary supplement company, All American Pharmaceutical & Natural Foods Corp. moves into new digs after $10M renovation
This space requires another 26 workers, for a total of 76. Montana's labor shortage is having some effect on hiring efforts, he said, although he's hired six people so far. The target worker is someone trainable who wants to work for a small, but growing, company.
Funding and Building your Business
- Big Sky Or Big Sprawl Conference, 11/14, Helena
The continual explosion of development in some parts of Montana has prompted an increasing effort to guide the growth in recent years.
- Bitterroot braces for anticipated box stores
“They're coming,” Foster said. “If they're not coming today they're coming tomorrow or the next day.”
- Newly formed business alliance promotes Montana's "Indianpreneurs"
MIBA is a direct outcome of the Montana Indian Business Conference, which a diverse group of sponsoring organizations and planning team members hosted in Great Falls, Mont., in February 2006. However, the seeds for MIBA were planted long before the conference planning began.
- Montana 'supersizes' new developments
“The farming community is no longer our development community, knocking off five or 10 acres here and there,” Harris said. “This has become a big business, and it's a risky business. There's a lot more money at play now, and we need a bigger plan to deal with it.”
- Ravalli County featured in national publication
NACo is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States.
- "A Regional WorkForce Transformation And Economic Planning Forum", 11/30, Helena
Increasing the Wealth of Individuals, Businesses, and Communities
Regional Business
- 10 lessons for Entrepreneurs
Here are five common mistakes entrepreneurs make that stifle growth:
- How to Get Inspired. Leading innovation requires creativity. That means you have to think like an artist.
As leaders, we are charged with marshaling the innovative energy in our organizations.
- What kind of entrepreneur are you?
There are many ways to describe entrepreneurs.
- Business Executives’ Attitudes Toward the Aging Workforce: Aware But Not Prepared?
As large numbers of older workers retire or cut their work schedules, many employers will have to manage an inevitable “brain drain,” which may significantly increase labor costs and deplete corporations of vital knowledge, talent, and institutional memory.
- How To Build A Good Board
I've insisted on certain things when we negotiate the composition of the board. That has significantly increased the number of good boards I am on.
Regional Economic Development
- Qwest retirees come out fighting over benefit cuts. - Three Qwest executives make more than $43 million by cashing in stock options
A Qwest retirees group plans to fight benefit cuts by staging rallies, writing letters to company directors, talking to lawmakers and possibly filing a lawsuit.
- Torrent Technologies offers a new options in flood insurance administration.
Our new product, TorrentFlood®, is in the final stages of development. After three days of recent testing, an agent in Florida characterized TorrentFlood® as “easier” and “extremely user friendly.” With features like real-time editing and contextual help, going from policy initiation to issuance takes just minutes.
Utah Business
- Entrepreneur-Friendly Governors Sail to Victory
Nationwide, governors who Inc. has recognized as being the most friendly to entrepreneurs were re-elected by a much wider margin in Tuesday's elections than governors who received low marks from the magazine.
- How Cities Compete In The Media Economy
Those cities that can evolve to meet the needs of the information age will be the ones to prosper immensely in the next 10-20 years.
- Will the US be competitive in 10 years?
It's a leader on the global stage now, but the trade imbalance may erode US preeminence, report says.
Utah Economic Development
- Paiute tech company in Utah climbs ranks in just three years
In just three years, Suh'dutsing Technologies has risen from a struggling startup to an American Indian success story - and more.
Government Technology
- Utah becomes hot market for top-end resorts
he luxury accommodations are putting Park City ahead of Aspen and Sun Valley in resort real estate sales and will increase one southern Utah county's assessed property values by 20 percent.
Washington State Business
- Techs: High up on Capitol Hill. The 110th Congress could be the most technology-friendly in history.
A year ago this month, after extensive meetings with VCs and entrepreneurs, Pelosi unveiled an "innovation agenda" that called, among other things, for broadband access for all Americans, whether it comes via Wi-Fi, Wi-Max or a fixed line by 2010.
- A Web strategy for better state government
The District of Columbia has a brilliant new program letting residents create innovative Google Map "mashups" by mining statistics that D.C. now makes publicly available on a real-time basis under its DC Stat initiative. One prods the Department of Public Works to fill potholes quicker by displaying on a Google Map where potholes are located, when they were reported, and what the repair status is. No cost, no government programmers involved -- but very effective in stimulating better service!
Wyoming Business
- Triumph Composite Systems Inc., of Spokane wins big contract from Boeing
Triumph Composite Systems Inc., of Spokane, says it has won a contract from Boeing Co. worth an estimated $49 million, and plans to hire nearly 60 employees here as a result of that work and several other new contracts it’s lining up.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Wyoming explosives plant plans $50 million expansion
The Dyno Nobel plant west of Cheyenne makes ammonium nitrate explosives that are used in coal mining.
- Casper man gets Air Force grant for rocket motor
The grant is for his work on a rocket motor that uses special nozzles to control thrust and steering of the rocket as it launches
Universities and Economic Development
- What's real in "Borat"?
Everything you wanted to know about the Kazakh road trip -- what was staged, who was an actor, and who was just hapless comedy roadkill.
University TechTransfer
- A New Social Compact: How University Engagement Can Fuel Innovation. A Case Study of North Dakota
Richard K. Lester feels that colleges and universities, because they are immobile, can replace local institutions whose leadership has been eroded by globalization.
Small Diameter Timber Utilization
- Washington State University steps up efforts in Spokane to commercialize research
Washington State University at Spokane says it’s stepping up efforts to commercialize research being done here by creating a new position to oversee its intellectual property-related activities in the Spokane area.
Careers
- Former Superior lumber mill now home to three wood products businesses
“They're moving away from the single focus of producing dimension lumber and moving into these niche markets.”
Non-Profit News
- Just imagine how creative your job can be
The word creative generally means showing or using your imagination to develop new ideas or things. Unfortunately, it is something that often cannot be measured in standardized testing or often is never tested for.
- Executive Skills and Focus
Focusing on the work at hand is an important skill for today’s executives, and it often comes down to simply changing your environment.
Energy
- Online resource to assist would-be non-profit startups
The concept behind a new Web site for grassroots initiatives started several years ago when its creator was fielding calls from an overwhelming number of people seeking advice on how to start up their own organization.
- Working for a cause. Montana’s nonprofit sector continues to grow
The “influx of new wealth” has helped nonprofit groups meet their needs, Cooney said. But while many newcomers are eager to help, others moved to the area to escape the level of involvement they experienced in other communities. “The challenge there is it’s not always easy to engage these new residents, be they rich or poor, in the life of the community,” he said. Nonprofit groups in many areas struggle to recruit volunteers from newcomers and longtime residents alike.
- Young givers create way to pool funds, experience. Giving circles encourage donors to participate
In the past eight years, "giving circles" or "donor circles" have sprouted like wheat grass along the West Coast and beyond, as a prosperous "younger" generation -- that's pre-retirement -- looks for a meaningful way to help heal the troubled spots in communities.
Making the Most of the American Prairie
- Salt Lake City Embraces Green Building. City to Require LEED For New Buildings
City Council members Tuesday night unanimously adopted an ordinance requiring builders of commercial structures, apartments and condos to meet national environmental building standards if they are funded by city loans, grants or tax rebates.
- Mayors come to Utah for warming summit. Robert Redford, Rocky Anderson and others hope new ideas can be gleaned from meetings
Citing a lack of leadership at the federal level, many of them plan to rein in greenhouse gas emissions city by city, town by town. Others are just at the second annual Sundance Summit on climate protection to see what all the fuss is about.
- It heats. It powers. Is it the future of home energy?
"It's like printing money,"
Connectivity & Communications
- The American Prairie Foundation (APF), ranchers work to resolve issues surrounding bison reserve project
A non-profit organization created solely for the purpose of building the American Prairie Reserve in northeastern Montana, APF is based in Bozeman, Mont. According to Scott Laird, director of field operations for APF, the temperate grasslands of the world are the least protected bio-landscapes in the world. As a result, there is a high rate of habitat loss continually taking place on the prairies in North America.
Commuter Rail Development
- Coalition aims to make systems work together
Microsoft Corp. says it has formed a coalition with more than 20 companies, including some of its competitors, to focus on issues of "interoperability," trying to make their different programs and systems work more smoothly together.
- With a Dish, Broadband Goes Rural
“It’s not a perfect technology, but it is one of the best options for those of us in rural areas,”
Leadership Montana
- T is for Transit-Oriented Development
Planning a city around transit doesn’t mean you have to cluster everything inside the core business district.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Leadership Montana class to meet in Missoula… 11/15-17
Leadership Montana, a statewide collaboration of higher education, civic and business leaders, will hold the third of seven sessions November 15-17 in Missoula. General program sessions will be held at the Holiday Inn-Parkside.
- Customers to Shop by Image on Like.com Web Site
This holiday season, customers can get their chance with a new Web site called Like.com that bills itself as the first visual search engine, allowing consumers to search for items by appearance instead of just text and then purchase similar versions _ at all price points _ from 200 merchants' Web sites.
- Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense
The projects aimed at creating Web 3.0 all take advantage of increasingly powerful computers that can quickly and completely scour the Web.
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