FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from the Governor's Office of Economic Development
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
 
CONTACT: Evan Barrett 406-444-5634

Alliance Forming to Support Montana’s Growing Clean Technology Economy

(HELENA) - After 18 months of grassroots organizing, gathering data and interviews, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development has stepped up to support the efforts of a broad coalition of partners to provide support for a Montana Clean Technology Alliance.  
 
The Montana World Trade Center and the Bitterroot Economic Development District began putting form to the  initiative which now includes a host of private sector companies from across the state that are working on new clean technology platforms in energy, chemicals, renewable and biodegradable products.  The private sector companies have been joined by the Governor’s Energy Office, the Montana Department of Labor, the Montana Angel Network, Northwest Energy, the Montana BioScience Alliance and university experts.

The biomimicry challenge, What Would You Ask Nature?, shows how nature inspired solutions can solve real world problems.The Biomimicry Institue of Missoula chose three firms with real world business challenges and paired them with a biologist. The bio-inspired solutions are reported on the Fast Company website. Follow the below links for detailed report on the projects and their solutions.

•  IBM and Smart Design city life healthier and more intelligent.
• The US Green Building Council partners with IDEO to create a more sustainable organizational structure.
• Brightworks, a Portland based, sustainable development company partners with a Mexico City-based archetectural firm to plan more sustainable urban neighborhoods.

 The City of Missoula's economic development efforts are woefully inadequate according to economic  development experts hired under Mayor John Engen's Best Place Project. Consultant's Jay Garner and  Tom DiFore presented the results of their report on the status of Missoula's economic development efforts at a public meeting on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. They conclude that Missoula would be best served by creating a new organization focused on traditional economic development such as business recruitment, expansion of existing businesses and the promotion of tourism. 

For more information, the two reports are posted on the City of Missoula's website and news stories can be found at Missoulian.com.

Adding value to wood products

BREDD has applied for grant funding from the Department of Commerce, Economic Development administration to implement the Trade Adjustments Strategic Plan. The strategic plan was developed by BREDD and its partners with support from Montana's congressional staff, local and state government, other economic development organizations and private businesses.

•  CTAA Strategic Plan

March 16, 2010

Missoula City Council approved the City's partnership with the Montana Sustainable Building Center at Monday's City Council Meeting. The partnership allows the Sustainable Building Center to move to the final stages of securing a $1.4 million Economic Development Administration grant. The grant money will help the MSBC purchase and rennovate the building and grounds. Local re-use home improvements retailer Home Resource is the main tenent for the Center but additional space is available .

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March 16, 2010

This is our chance to help Montana enter the technology fueld future. The Montana Department of Commerce is asking Montanans to take the internet speed test to help map state wide internet service. The State Broadband Mapping Project will map broadband Internet availability across the State and the Nation. 

Evolution meets creation   

Humpback whale flippers are the inspiration behind WhalePower blades.

by Sara Stroud - 7.27.09  from Sustainable Industries.com

At first glance, a humpback whale and a wind turbine don’t have a lot in common. For that matter, neither do a shellfish and a sheet of plywood. But both sea creatures are the inspiration behind products designed using biomimicry, or looking to nature’s designs and processes to solve human problems.

For those who know where to look, biomimetically inspired products can be found in almost every corner of the marketplace, from medicine to transportation. But where the emerging field has the potential for the greatest impacts, according to advocates and practitioners, is in changing the way we think about our built environment—not only in designing individual building products, but in conceiving of entire communities as biomimetic systems, not to mention businesses, government bodies and other “systems.”

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U.S. Treasury Announces Major Grant to MCDC for Small Business Loans

 The U.S. Treasury Department announced on June 29, 2009, a $2 million grant to the Montana Community Development Corporation (MCDC) , of Missoula, for statewide business loans.  Amidst stiff national competition, MCDC received the top dollar amount awarded for its loan fund. 

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund provides business development money to economically distressed communities.  This year 182 applicants submitted $260 million in grant and loan requests.  The Fund provided $90 million to 59 different community development financial institutions nationwide.

photo from Jon Tester's website

Senator Jon Tester's website  now contain's important information to help Montana contractors and  businesses compete for Recovery Act funded projects.  The site includes presentations and video from June 13th's Small Business Opportunites workshop in Great Falls. Contact information for Technical Assistance, Tester's field offices and other help for small business owners are also published.

--From the Ravalli Republic

The Ravalli County Economic Development Authority (RCEDA) officially launched the construction of the Ravalli Entreprenuership Center (REC) Tuesday, May 26, 2009. The REC is a $3.2 million facility designed to usher in a new era of economic development, employment and education.

The 10,000 square foot center is schedule to open on October 14 and will focus on nurturing bio-sciences industries and training young workers and retraining older workers in technology skills.The REC will be an incubator that offers laboratories and office space to promote small, local start-up technology businesses. It will provide technical assistance, business coaching, mentoring, advisory boards, networking opportunities, access to capital programs, market information and office space to new entrepreneurs and existing businesses.

The Economic Development Authority projects the REC will create 253 jobs from the start up and encourage more than $11 million in private investment over the next 10 years. About 60 percent of the REC facility will be leasable space, or a maximum of 18 offices. When businesses start with the REC program, they will lease those spaces until they can sustain themselves.