Poll on Rural Economic Development Strategies

What economic development strategies are important to rural citizens? To discover that answer, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln asked 2,490 rural citizens the question, “What type of impact on your community do you think would result from your community pursuing the following economic development strategies?” Although the results varied by location, age, education and income, the overall results were very positive toward entrepreneurship as a development strategy:

Providing loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs in their community (79%)
Developing a youth entrepreneurship program in their local school/s (76%)
Providing training or technical assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurs in your community (74%)

Poll respondents were also positive toward specific infrastructure development that captured the unique characteristics or resources of the community. For example, persons living in or near communities larger than 10,000 believed developing industrial parks in their community would have a positive impact (66%) compared to persons living in or near communities with fewer than 500 persons (33%). In addition, persons living in the Nebraska Panhandle region were more positive about the perceived impact of promoting development of wind energy (82%) than persons living in Southeast Nebraska (68%).

To read this report and others, visit the Nebraska Rural Poll at the Center for Applied Rural Innovation.

Submitted by Rebecca Vogt, Survey Research Manager, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Flood CleanUp, Contractors Register with FEMA

Now that the Missouri River flood waters are beginning to recede in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska, the need for businesses to help with cleanup is critical. If your business is interested in contracting with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), contact Andy Alexander, Program Manager and Counselor with the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) to help (402-554-6253). A step-by-step guide is available to get you started in registering with FEMA.

NBDC PTAC is also available to assist any business interested in contracting with local, state and federal agencies. PTAC offices are located in Omaha, Auburn, Kearney and Wayne.

Submitted by Marilyn Schlake, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Student internships may be an option worth exploring.

Looking to add staff without the full-time commitment? Student internships can help you get things done on a limited budget.

The Nebraska Internship Program, which began on June 1, has job training funds available to help businesses hire student interns. The program provides a 40% match, up to $3,500 per internship, for eligible businesses hiring eligible student interns (businesses in distressed areas may receive a 60% match up to $5,000). A business may apply for funding for up to 10 interns per year, with a maximum of five interns per company location, per year.

Eligible businesses are primarily in Manufacturing, Research & Development, Distribution, Transportation, Storage & Warehousing, Data Processing, Telecommunications, Insurance & Financial Services, Administration (Headquarters) and more. Eligible students must be enrolled full-time in a postsecondary college or university with junior or senior status, or in their second year of a two-year program. Internships must pay minimum wage or more and range from 200-1,000 hours.

As of August 8^th, 79 businesses have applied for Intern Nebraska funding with 45 businesses approved and participating in the program. Nearly $640,000 of the $1.5 million available in funding is committed. Thirty-one qualified businesses are in rural Nebraska and 14 businesses are in urban parts of our state. Approximately 38 qualified businesses are still looking to hire around 124 interns as of today. The intent of the program is to create at least 500 new internships annually in Nebraska.

For more information about the program, to post a job opening, or to search posted student resumes, go to http://InternNE.com/employer. To learn more about the benefits of hiring interns, here’s a video featuring Dan Shundoff, owner of Intellicom, Inc.: Expanding Capacity with Interns

Marilyn Schlake, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Online Tutorial on Refining Idea Concept

Here’s a jewel of information for the average inventor. Planet Eureka!, operated by Merwyn Research, Inc., provides free on-line tutorials for getting your invention noticed and to the market. The FREE Merwyn Business Translation Workshop includes nine videos and a downloadable workbook that walks you through the process of translating your idea into a simple description. You can then use your workbook to pitch your idea to others or use the fee-based services provided through the Merwyn Business Simulation Research and post your idea on their searchable website. Caution – simulation research is not cheap!

Planet Eureka! is also a searchable website where you can look-up other innovations or seek manufacturers that may be looking for your type of product. Planet Eureka! is supported by the USA National Innovation Marketplace, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Kauffman Foundation and others.

For more information about Nebraska’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, contact Dave Wright, dave.wright@nebraska.gov

Social Entreprenership at its Best – TOMS

I was filled with excitement as I started my day out early. I slipped on my TOMS shoes, and smiled at the thought of getting to hear one of my favorite entrepreneurs share his story at the Greater Omaha’s Young Professional Summit. I was thrilled when I learned I had been given the opportunity from Partnerships for Innovation to attend this event at the Qwest Center. Three hours later, after my eastward journey, I arrived at the event and was amazed by the large crowd attending the Summit. This event was incredibly organized with breakout sessions that delivered valuable messages, information, and resources to the participants. However, my favorite part of the day was lunch, and not because of the meal, although it was very good. It was because of the key note speaker, Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoski. Read more

UNL NebraskaEDGE and NxBizSuccess Webinar

Topic: NebraskaEDGE and NxBizSuccess, hosted by Marilyn Schlake and Tonia Franklin. To attend the webinar simply log into the Adobe Connect Pro meeting room location at: http://breeze.unl.edu/p18749928/

Monthly eShip Webinars are scheduled for the 4th Tuesday of each month at 10 am CDT at the same Adobe Connect Pro meeting room location.

Website to Search for Angel Investors

Angelsoft.net is a new online startup tool to help business owners find venture capital firms and angel investors worldwide, including in and around Nebraska.

Launched in 2009, Investor Search allows users to search by location, investment size, industry, milestone, valuation, and more. You can also search by keyword, and sort results based on closest location, most active, response time, investments, and applications. The tool includes profiles of over 1,000 venture capital firms and angel investor groups.

Angelsoft.net has an online business planning tool that helps the business owner put together a business plan specifically designed for the investors. You will be asked 11 questions that every investor wants answered. Along the way the website provides you with tips on how to best complete each question. When you are finished, you will have a document that you print, share as a PDF, or use to apply to the 1,026 groups that accept the Angelsoft application.

New Searchable Patent Website

Patent Lens is a worldwide, open-access, free full-text patent informatics resource. Users can search and retrieve the full-text of more than 9 million patent documents from US, Europe, Australia and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), their status and counterparts up to 70 countries. Patent Lens is supported by the Initiative for Open Innovation (IOI) and partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Visit the Patent Lens Search Help to get started on your searches.

Top Ten Nebraska Lenders For 2009

Small Business Administration News Release

OMAHA - Ten of Nebraska’s leading lenders have been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for providing SBA lending to small businesses throughout the state during SBA’s fiscal year 2009 which ended September 30. Read more

Who is Using Social Networks?

The social network dynamics are constantly changing, from who is Facebooking to who is Linked-in. These dynamics impact how you conduct your online business. To help capture what is happening with the online social network phenomenon, the Pew Internet & American Life Project is publishing multiple reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life.

Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009 by Susannah Fax, Kathryn Zickuhr, Aaron Smith.

Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others–up from 11% in April.
Thirty-seven percent of Internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008.

The Pew Internet project posts data on numerous topics such as : Teen Use, Broadband Issues, Health and Technology Trends, Social Networking Use, Web 2.0 Integration, and Technology/User Types.

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