|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Fri Sep 16, 2011 |
"All my successes have been built on my failures." - Benjamin Disraeli "What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
"Medical Marijuana In Montana: Thoughtful Questions, Responsible Answers", 9/19-20, Helena, Montana http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- The Montana Way By Brian Schweitzer http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Montana Manufacturing Extension Center
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- SEEING TO LEARN, A Day Of Plant Tours, Learnings & Fun, 10/5, Kalispell, Montana
Come Celebrate Vistas, Vision & Vitality in the heart of the Northern Rockies in this full day of quality interaction and manufacturing plant tours in the Kalispell area.
- Entrepreneur Alex Philp to keynote Kalispell tour event on Oct. 5
How do small companies combine technology, software and manufacturing or other core competencies to get the "Big Bang" of larger firms in Montana?
- MMEC Forward Focus - MMEC Helps AdvR Visualize the Move from Development to Production
When Montana-based AdvR, Inc. - a developer of laser optic technologies - was moving one of their technologies from development toward production, company leaders asked what is the best way to move toward manufacturing.
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- Missoula Students Receiving Free, Reduced Lunches Increases Yearly
In spring of 2011 as many as 82% of students in one Missoula elementary school received free or reduced lunches.
- STEM education crisis stems from unsupported teachers
"You can train teachers all you want, give them tons of professional development, but the career of a teacher is not good. You might even capture a few STEM teachers, but after a while, you won't be able to keep them."
- What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?
Randolph wants his students to succeed, of course — it’s just that he believes that in order to do so, they first need to learn how to fail.
- My Family's Experiment in Extreme Schooling
"Life is the best teacher."
- Bilingual babies' vocabulary linked to early brain differentiation
"Learning a second language is like learning a sport," said Garcia-Sierra, who is raising his two young children as bilingual. "The more you play the better you get."
- New education strategies endorsed - Gates Foundation specialist touts wise use of technology
Three concepts should guide education reform geared to workforce training: acceleration, technology and adaptive learning.
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
- Maya Angelou urges Bozeman, Montana audience to find rainbows in the darkness
When life gets hard, Angelou told the audience, think of me, think of your university, your parents, your professors, your grandparents, "think of everybody who has been a rainbow in your cloud."
Rob Ryan's Entrepreneur- America
- Patent Reform Becomes Law: The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act
The Leahy-Smith Act makes the first substantial modifications to the United States patent laws since 1952.
The Burton K. Wheeler Center
- Bitterroot College Program holds special business forum on Oct. 6
Victoria Clark, director of the Bitterroot College Program, said the seminar is for people who have a business idea, want to know how to launch a business or are wondering how to improve on a business that already exists.
Visit Montana
- Wheeler Center conference to focus on medical marijuana issue, 9/19-20 in Helena
The agenda includes speakers from other states where medical marijuana is legal, the producer of a PBS program on medical marijuana, a physician and law enforcement personnel.
Come Home Montana
- Organic Eats, Handmade Hats and Tigers - Visit Montana!
If you're looking for a low-key vacation that mixes ranchy roots, history, and progressive eats and galleries, then Billings fits the bill. (Pun totally intended.)
- Hard-to-find museum in Bozeman, Montana tells story of computers
As every diehard Star Trek fan knows, Bozeman was the site of the first contact between humans and Vulcans, but you don't have to be a Trekkie to find a reason to visit this charming college town on the high plains of the American West.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Grant Writer/Administrator - Montana Business Assistance Connection, Inc.
This position has responsibility for finding and acquiring financial resources and providing professional assistance to effect new and existing business, economic and community development.
Montana Business
- Advice For Tech Start-Ups: Go Big Or Go Home
"You need a big idea," said Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn Corp. and a part-time partner at Greylock Partners.
- Silicon Valley's Pay-It-Forward Culture
"Bob Noyce took me under his wing, I was young, in my twenties. He was in his early fifties. He tried to give me the lay of the land, give me a perspective that I could only partially understand," Jobs said, "You can't really understand what is going on now unless you understand what came before."
Montana Economic Development
- Belgrade companies, Xplore Mobility and ROC Wheels come together for the disabled
Our goal is to make the product available to people all over the world, including developing countries."
- HUD Awards Montana $309,000 to Promote Jobs, Self-Sufficiency, Independent Living for HUD-Assisted Housing Residents
"The service coordinators funded through these programs open doors that help HUD-assisted families find jobs, access services and assist the elderly and disabled to continue living as independently as possible in their homes."
- Come together to create Montana jobs
Folks in rural America know that in difficult times, we need to come together to hammer out a solution that benefits everyone. Our Congressional leaders in Washington need to do the same as they work to support job growth and build a stronger future for all Americans.
- Senator Baucus Launches Montana Jobs Economic Engine Initiative
Senator Highlights Montana Business Creating Jobs in an Area of High Unemployment
- Conservation Concerns, Landowner Opposition Stifle Montana Transmission Project
"That's the irony of this thing," Salois said of his opposition to the project, which would pave the way for at least three new wind farms in Montana. "Wind, solar and bio are part of the answer to the predicament we've gotten ourselves into," he said. "In my way of thinking, the production and consumption of hydrocarbon materials of any kind is at some point going to have to stop."
- Old Town's New Innovation - Whitefish, Montana's "Old Town Creative" Can Help Promote Your Community
Old Town Creative http://www.oldtowncreative.com/ : a website and software development company based in Whitefish that specializes in showcasing travel destinations with interactive online mapping.
- Seven businesses win 2011 Montana Family Business awards
The businesses, which range in size from fewer than 10 employees to more than 50, will receive their awards at the 2011 Montana State University College of Business State Farm Insurance Family Business Day, set for Friday, October 7, at the Holiday Inn in Bozeman.
Regional Economic Development
- Montana Policy Review: "Community Resiliency and the Built Environment: Innovations and Policy Issues in Montana"
The articles provide the most complete analysis to date of built environment initiatives from the people who have designed, developed, and delivered the programs and plans.
- Sen. Jon Tester Hosts Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 10/7, Butte, Montana
This Small Business Opportunity Workshop, my ninth so far, will focus on Montana small businesses looking to find and secure contracting opportunities.
- Sen. Tester To Host Jobs Forum, 9/30, Bozeman, Montana
The panels will examine how university research, especially research funded through federal investment, benefits Montana's economy and puts people to work. Many of Montana's growing technology companies have gotten their start from such research.
- Montana tribal college expanding campus with help from New Markets Tax Credits
Little Big Horn College uses innovative financing method to fund Health and Wellness Center
- Great Falls airport wooing new low-cost carrier
A small Great Falls delegation met Thursday with route planners for a low-cost airline carrier in hopes of using business incentives to lure the carrier to Great Falls next summer.
University of Montana & Montana State University Tech Transfer
- SBA Announces Intermediary Lending Pilot Program For Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses
The ILP Program anticipates meeting the needs of small business borrowers that face significant gaps in the credit market.
Careers
- Intel to universities: no patents, please, just open source
Intel may be the latest, but it's not the first big tech company to prefer to sidestep university intellectual property (IP) clauses involving the negotiation of patent rights.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Indeed.com Opens Millions of Resumes to Search by Employers - Top job search site launches free resume search
Unlike the subscription-only resume databases of job boards, Indeed Resume is an open search engine. Searching for resumes is free and unrestricted and does not require an account. Employers can contact job seekers for free during the beta period.
- Message Glue - Conversation vs Presentation - How To Talk With Your Audience
There's no shortage of proof that talking with is more effective than talking at. So, then...why do we do it?
- 'People Are Still Finding Their Dream Jobs' - "What Color Is Your Parachute"
How has career advice changed since you started writing in 1970?
- Why It's Good to Think You Are the Greatest
Overconfidence is vital and can help you win battles you otherwise wouldn't have won.
Funding and Building your Business
- Venture capital report urges creation of state-backed 'fund of funds' in Wisconsin
Creation of a "master" fund-of-funds that would invest in 14 to 20 venture capital funds over time.
Incubators and R&D
- How to get an extra week of work out of employees without raising salaries
Are performance-based rewards and incentives the holy grail to boosting employee engagement and productivity? Or, are they just bribes for getting employees to do their jobs?
- Tech Coast Angels Launches Angel Syndication Network
ASN is a dynamic new opportunity for entrepreneurs.
- Build Something People Need: On Raising Venture Capital And Creating Startups That Matter
The only validation a young company needs are people (ideally paying customers) who are using what the company creates and, even more importantly, people who believe they can't live without what the company creates.
- Wal-Mart pledges billions to aid women businesses
"As such a huge industry leader, what they do hopefully will help to shape what others do in the field."
- 10 Surprises of a First-Time Entrepreneur
1. People love failure.
- Entrepreneurial Tightrope: Re-light that fire for business
Before you jump into the next business do a little homework. Review your past ventures.
- Expert Interviews Instead of Exit Interviews
What is the core service that job is providing?
- 6 Startups Actions to Survive a Volatile Market
The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don't view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness.
- The Best Job Interview Questions You Should Ask
Question: When you finish your work, what do you like to do?
- 4 Considerations for Expanding Your Startup to International Markets
The first step in the process of expansion is identifying which markets are of the most strategic significance to your business.
- Explore Non-Standard Ways to Grow Your Startup
Despite the risks, there are many advantages of non-organic growth, even in startup environments:
- The 7 Coolest Startups You Haven't Heard of Yet
Take it more as a suggestion of some things to try out, not as a cheat sheet for eager angel investors.
Montana Education Excellence
- UM Receives $9.9 Million National Institutes Of Health Grant
"The most important immediate impact of COBRE funding will be to accelerate the research of four talented young investigators on this campus and to provide resources to help UM recruit first-rate faculty at the forefront of biophysical and biomedical research."
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Juneau Promotes Community-Based Efforts to Reduce the Dropout Rate: Superintendent's Office Providing On-Line Resources, Planning and Material Support
"Montanans understand that the economic success and future of our state is directly tied to student success."
- Montana State University research totals $102.7 million, lands large new grant for work on environment
Research also benefits students, reported Tracy Ellig, MSU news director. Last year, $9.8 million went to pay undergraduate and graduate students' salaries, benefits, scholarships and fellowships.
Regional Business
- Montana education seminar touches on region's needs
"We don't have the trained potential employee or the trained serviceman that we require," he said. "It's been a nightmare. We need help. We can't service what we got."
Idaho Business
- Is the green jobs movement kaput?
The idea of green jobs -- that economic development can take place through the preservation and enhancement of our environment -- seems to be completely dead.
Oregon Economic Development
- For Idaho and the Internet, Life in the Slow Lane
Idaho had the slowest Internet speeds in the country earlier this year for residential customers who were downloading things like games -- a "dismal" average of 318 kilobytes per second.
- Going up: These Idaho businesses are growing fast - 16 companies make Inc. magazine's annual list
Three of them made it into the top 500.
Wyoming Business
- City unveils economic blueprint
The document contains an interesting mix of small, easily measured goals and broad, long-term initiatives.
- Oregon universities win federal grant for electric cars
A consortium of Oregon universities has landed a $485,000 federal grant to help the state plan for 30,000 plug-in electric cars by 2015.
Canada Business & Economic Development
- The power struggle for Wyoming's wind
The best wind in America is in Wyoming. The best wind in America is also harsh and divisive.
Government
- BOOM! Canada's emergence as a video game powerhouse
Today, the Canadian video industry generates an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue, with 400 companies employing 16,000 people.
Other Economies
- The Montana Way By Brian Schweitzer
Montana is one of the only states in America with a balanced budget and a strong surplus. And we've done it six years in a row, with an average surplus of $389 million (in the previous twenty years before I was governor, the average was $68 million).
Community
- West Virginia Blueprint For Technology Based Economic Development
Likewise, these outcomes will not come from one particular strategy or action. Instead, the various strategies and actions will work together to produce the overall results -- an overall boost in TBED in the state.
Energy and Climate Change
- How does a city become an innovation ecosystem?
If you're looking for a little inspiration to get you ready for the big event check out these links to see how collaboration and innovation hubs that "mash-up" diverse sectors can come up with imaginative solutions to complex problems.
- Missoulians share life-changing moments for traveling video crew
"This project is about documenting and sharing those light-bulb moments when you realize, 'Why didn't I think about this before?' " said Jessica Henry, a member of the four-person taping team that rolled into Missoula this week, Airstream studio in tow. "Those moments are incredibly life-changing for people, and they can be very powerful inspiration for the rest of us as well."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- The Climate Reality Project with Al Gore - 9/14-15 - Online starting at 6PM MST
We will offer a round-the-clock, round-the-globe snapshot of the climate crisis in real time. The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality.
Government Technology
- Solar-powered processor a glimpse of the future?
The achievement was less about the fact the chip ran on solar power and more about how Intel employees were able to create a chip that ran on little more than the power needed to turn on its transistors, the so-called "threshold" voltage.
Non-Profit News
- 'Best Idea for Government' Nets Federal Worker $50,000
The winners in the other four categories were:
- Janine Benyus of the Biomimicry Institute in Missoula wins prestigious $100,000 science award
Benyus is an expert in Biomimicry which is a concept which looks at how nature works for breakthrough ideas to improve products and manufacturing methods.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page
