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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Apr 7, 2006 |
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." -- Scott Adams
If you believe that education is a key to economic success, I encourage you to support this program as it spreads out ot more schools throughout Montana. Russ - "MAPS: "Media Arts in the Public Schools" Would Appreciate Your Support." --- http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Come Home Montana
Montana Ambassadors
- Featured "Come Home Montana" Community~FLATHEAD VALLEY
The Flathead Valley is visually and recreationally spectacular. It borders Glacier National Park and is surrounded by the Salish Mountains and the Whitefish, Swan and Mission Mountain Ranges.
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Career ~ Software Developer
This position entails software development, database management, with some design and maintenance of websites in a technologically driven educational organization.
- Philipsburg, Montana wins spot as distinctive destination from The National Trust for Historic Preservation
“A dynamic community with numerous historic events to share with visitors, Philipsburg is truly a piece of heaven in Big Sky Country.”
Montana Education Excellence
- Montana Ambassador Newsletter Spring 2006
Montana Ambassadors Building Business Bridges with out-of-state chapters
Education
- 2006 KNOWLEDGE WORKER QUOTIENT ™: College Towns Are at the Heart of the Knowledge Sector Economy. Bozeman, MT a good example
Success Story from Bozeman, MT: Citing a shortage of qualified engineers in its home state of Connecticut, Sikorsky lands in Bozeman, Montana
- Citizens of Montana - MAPS: "Media Arts in the Public Schools" Would Appreciate Your Support.
As you know, we're hoping to expand statewide throughout Montana in 2007. The current plan is five new schools in '07, five in '08, five in '09 etc.
Montana Business
- San Francisco teens ‘come and see' how Browning, Montana teens live.
The most important difference is people are more welcoming here. I've been running with Ben Horn in the morning, and people wave at you. And at church everyone in the church gets to know you. It's a community where everybody knows each other.”
- UM student, Mike Greener takes first prize in national Hearst Journalism Competition
His prize-winning photos documented the final days of David Barton, who died of lung cancer in hospice care.
- IBM helping employees move into classrooms
"We're only as successful as our innovation is and we have to have future talent that will bring that kind of innovative thinking and help us as future employees," said Rick Falknor, a community relations manager at IBM. The company believes it is the first to help workers make the switch into a teaching career.
- Tutor center in Butte brings kids, mentors together
The program, which is free to Butte students, serves 20 to 25 children daily Monday through Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
- International Internships Make Dreams Reality for University of Montana Students
"While an international internship offers great opportunities, it can be an expensive, challenging endeavor," Minnick said. "Few international internships pay, and the cost of travel and living can be daunting. In addition, language proficiency is often required prior to the internship."
Montana Economic Development
- Translation Services Company, Globalization Partners International (multiple offices including Missoula, MT) Awarded in 2006 Web Marketing Association Competition
We designed the site in order to showcase our own multilingual website creation and translation capabilities, and combined audio, video, a persuasive architecture and a clear conversion path in the site to help educate and convert potential clients".
- SBA Announces Montana Small Business Person of the Year, Andrew Field, President and Founder of PrintingForLess.com, and Other Award Winners
Andrew Field is a serial entrepreneur, starting in the printing industry in 1976; he is currently at work in his third successful start-up business.
- Oregon-based online business, OnlineAuction.com considering Great Falls site
"OnlineAuction.com is a growing company," Lorber said Wednesday. "It's right up there underneath eBay."
- Fraud shatters high-tech dream of David Tacke and VenueTech Systems.
Marilyn Chastain, chief of Idaho's Finance Department Securities Bureau, said the fact that Tacke is today sitting in a federal prison is a “feather in the cap” of Montana state auditor John Morrison's office. By cooperating with federal prosecutors, the Montana auditor's office made sure Tacke got serious prison time and a stiff fine. Such a case in Idaho, Chastain said, would be greeted as a “huge success.”
- Former Missoula Mayor Mike Kadas is more hopeful than ever that Missoula Public Power, Inc. will be able to purchase NorthWestern Energy, and he thinks that a sale will come sooner rather than later.
“The company now faces two shareholder lawsuits and faces a kind of takeover from among shareholders who are pressing to potentially change out the entire board of directors at the next annual meeting in August,” Kadas pointed out.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- The Montana Economic Developers Association (MEDA) Online News
Check out the CRDC Spotlight, meet our new MEDA Members, read about a colleague in Mississippi, dig into the Tool Box and take in a few Words of Wisdom.
- Conference- Government Based Contract Services for Veteran Owned Businesses, 5/19-20, Missoula
Offering Veterans, Veteran Owned and Service Disabled Veteran Business owners the opportunity to meet face-to-face with Federal Buyers. Learn what the Veteran-owned business preferences are and the expectations of set-asides.
- Madison County, Montana discusses need for high-speed Internet
The lack of reliable high-speed Internet and the business advantages it brings is hurting the rural counties ability to compete in the national and global economy.
- Anaconda chosen as Montana Main Street site
“What a shot in the arm this is for Anaconda,”
Montana Biotech
- The Treasure State CDC is the newest 504 lender for western Montana.
In a typical 504 project, a private lender would provide 50 percent of the project cost and the SBA 504 Program 40 percent. The borrower’s contribution would be ten percent, although for start-up business the commitment from the borrower would be greater.
- VCs Look off the Beaten Path. America’s struggling state economies lean more on venture capital to prepare for the post-industrial age.
Wisconsin, another state with 5 percent unemployment and a shaken manufacturing base, launched its New North scheme late in 2005, drawing around $10 million in venture capital from private investors. Small as that amount is—the cash is to be used to fill the seed funding gap—Governor Jim Doyle hailed the achievement as a major step in getting Wisconsin VC activity up to a level proportionate to neighboring states like Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
- Angel Investment syndicates mean larger financings, better terms
Angel investors form groups in order to aggregate capital, take advantage of members' differing and complementary ares of expertise, and have a little fun at monthly meetings.
Funding and Building your Business
- Renowned Stem Cell Researcher, Dr. Irving Weissman “Stem Cells: Science, Medicine and Politics”, 4/10, Missoula, MT
Weissman, an advocate for stem cell science, is director of the Institute of Cancer and Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Stanford University and a professor in the school’s departments of developmental biology, pathology and biology.
Regional Business
- Customer Service Goes to Hell- Here are seven companies that get it right -- and seven that don't.
"We saw a lot of small things that would be pretty easy to implement, but companies hadn't made the effort,"
- Apprentice 101: Trump's loss could help business world. Good example of the best and worst of leadership
Honor and integrity: I admire and respect the way Bryce stood up to Trump (albeit not necessarily the best strategy for surviving in Trump's boardroom) and refused to do the usual "Apprentice" candidate move of blaming everyone else.
- Avoiding Pitfalls When Partnering with a Friend
Business partnerships are more like marriages than most people realize going into them, and they frequently end in bitter divorce. But it's especially heartbreaking when a friendship is lost along the way.
- Stock options to ripple through earnings
"There will be some confusion," says David Zion, a research analyst who specializes on accounting issues for Credit Suisse. "It could be April Madness."
- "Market Driven Organizations," By Dr. Artur Baldouf Of The University Of Bern, Switzerland, 4/10, UM Missoula
Dr. Baldauf is a Professor of Management at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His presentation, "Market Driven Organizations," is a unique opportunity to hear about the characteristics of market driven organizations in a global context.
- Inside Entrepreneurship: How to find venture capital funding sources
The message here is patience matters. You have too much going for you to let a few mismatched solicitations undermine your goals.
- Study Links Punishment to an Ability to Profit
Given a choice, most people playing an investment game created by the researchers initially decided to join a group that did not penalize its members. But almost all of them quickly switched to a punitive community when they saw that the change could profit them personally.
Regional Economic Development
- University of Montana economist: Wolves a big moneymaker. Yellowstone Park survey finds animals have $70M effect
Each year, people who come to Yellowstone hoping to glimpse a wolf spend around $35 million in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, according to an intensive study of visitors by John Duffield and others.
Utah Economic Development
- Main Street makes a comeback
The danger in some of these success stories is that everyone tries to imitate them, to the point of quaintification of every small-town downtown as a sort of theme park.
Idaho Business
- Utah Proposes Significant Tax Reform Changes Including a Discussion on Lowering the Corporate Income Tax Rate.
Utah is a state of 2.5 million people, and its research universities, the University of Utah and Utah State University, bring in more than $500 million in research funding. “For a state our size, that is a large number,” Edwards says.
- Utah governor Huntsman talks up global outreach
Groups like the Utah Technology Council will play a critical role in making sure Utah's next generation is ready to compete in the technology, research and development and innovation arenas still owned by American intellect, Huntsman said. "In many ways," the governor told the group, "You are driving the ship of state for the next 20 years."
South Dakota Economic Development
- Idaho Aims To Increase Its Business Supports
Roger Madsen, director, Idaho Commerce & Labor, says these improvements and existing incentives will give Idaho an advantage over other states competing for expansion opportunities.
Washington State Business
- South Dakota Forms a State Biotech Association
Agricultural biotechnology has created more than 22,000 jobs and more than $2.4 billion in revenue in the United States, according to the South Dakota Biotech Association.
Incubators and R&D
- ReliOn quadruples sales volume Spokane Valley fuel-cell maker could be profitable within next couple of years
“They very easily over the next couple of years could become the first profitable fuel-cell company in the country,” says Scott Morris, president of Avista Utilities and a member of ReliOn’s board. “They continually meet their milestones and their projections.”
- Next IT’s work force shoots to 50. Young Spokane developer of artificial intelligence also sees revenues triple
About 70 percent of Next IT’s revenues currently come from its ActiveAgent Web-based software, which uses virtual guides to interact with Web-site visitors and customers, says Brown.
Small Diameter Timber Utilization
- The Fifth Annual Graduate Student And Faculty Research Conference, 4/8, Missoula
This year’s conference also includes an interdisciplinary roundtable discussion titled "Infectious Diseases in the Modern World," moderated by Herbert Swick of the Missoula’s Institute of Medicine and Humanities.
- From Montana to Mali, students present research at MSU conference
More than 1,200 MSU students are currently supported by a variety of undergraduate research programs, according to Greg Young, vice provost of Undergraduate Education.
- Sandia Labs scientists take time off for entrepreneurship
Since 1994, the Entrepreneurial Separation to Transfer Technology program at Sandia National Laboratories has allowed scientists to take years off to turn their research into commercial products. If the business fails to launch, scientists have up to three years to return to the labs without having to apply anew.
Careers
- In the New Timber Industry, Small is Better
The discussion over what to do with small diameter timber cleared from forests, as well as construction industry waste such as saw dust and wood chips, has been going on for sometime.
Non-Profit News
- When an Interviewer Says: 'Tell Me About a Time When You...'
The key, he says, is to identify the examples that you want to use beforehand and learn to recount them as stories so that you don't get caught flat-footed during the interview.
Energy
- Nonprofit Congress Seeks Montana Delegates for National Meeting
In order to ensure that voices of Montana's nonprofits are heard, MNA is encouraging leaders – including staff and volunteers – from a wide range of nonprofits to apply.
Connectivity & Communications
- Coal-bed methane fuels Montana-Wyoming feud
Montana Gov. Schweitzer maintains that Wyoming’s booming coal-bed methane development is already having serious impacts in Montana.
- Wildcat producer sparks oil boom on Montana plains
While oil companies have discovered bigger fields in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, this sizeable find is now the highest-producing onshore field found in the lower 48 states in the past 56 years, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
- Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House
Scientists working on climate research said that since the summer of 2004 they have been required to clear all media requests with White House officials, and that over the past year, administration officials have removed references to global warming from their reports, news releases and conference Web sites.
Space and Zero Gravity Research
- Teaching kids to drive the Net
"Kids are the ones who spend more time on the Internet--it's very much an extension of their real world. It's important to get the skills in place so they don't put themselves at risk for unwanted attention or give out personal information."
- Montana State Library Receives Grant From the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation To Assist Public Libraries with Technology
When people need information, whether it's in a book or online, your local Montana public library will help you find it all for free.
- Taking the San Francisco wireless - Panel recommends Google/Earthlink team to build network.
In the winning proposal, Google will deliver advertising to support a free service, while EarthLink, one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, will provide the wireless access. Data transfer speeds would hover around 300 kilobits per second, slower than most DSL connections but faster than dial-up.
- The University of Montana Kaimin’s newly remodeled Web site revealed
“I think most of our readership still just needs something to read while someone is lecturing,” said Kaimin Editor Alex Strickland. “But, if everyone goes to laptops and wireless communication, we still want people to read the Kaimin.”
Transportation
- Scientists, researchers feel pain of NASA budget cuts
"It's one of those tough things," said Carl Walz, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration official who signed the termination letters. "Had we been able to avoid doing it, we would have."
City Club Missoula
- Montana train group pushes for north-south 'feeder service' that would ferry people from Billings, Bozeman, Helena and Great Falls up to Shelby, where they could catch Amtrak's Empire Builder.
Given the high cost of fuel for cars and airplanes, Green said, and the relatively low cost of diesel, "I think somebody could make some good money" on the feeder service.
- City Club Missoula "Leaving Dinner Half Eaten For 50 Years" Missoula Search And Rescue, 4/21, Missoula
Join R. J. Nelson, Chief, Missoula County Search and Rescue, a volunteer-run back country rescue team, and other SAR team members in a wide-ranging discussion of this valuable community resource. The team will explain what Search and Rescue is and how it has contributed to our community for more than 50 years.
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