D.A. Davidson Chief Operations & Information Officer Tim Austin and team hosted 50 leaders in high-tech and manufacturing at their modern meeting space in downtown Great Falls for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance’s reception and CEO Roundtable on April 20, 2017.

A little over a year ago, Montana State University’s TechLink helped saved the lives of two American medical missionaries who were infected with the Ebola virus during the western Africa outbreak in 2014.

Hallway conversations and “accidental meetings” happen frequently at the Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC) in Missoula, and that is one of the best parts of being located at the business and technology incubator across from the University of Montana on the Clark Fork River, according to Elke Govertsen, founder and publisher of Mamalode.Bumping into her colleagues at MonTEC -- who are making impacts in renewable chemistry, oil and gas analytical services, big data/e-discovery, pharmaceuticals, health care data analytics, publishing, and online video delivery – always inspires Govertsen.

There is often a mindset that technology companies thrive in major metropolitan centers – not in rural areas. But Doug Schust, the chief operating officer of Hagadone Digital, has found the opposite to be true.In 2013, Hagadone Digital, a powerhouse for digital marketing in the U.S. and Canada, expanded its operation to Kalispell, a town with a population of just over 20,000 located in northwestern Montana near Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park.

Five months ago, a Bozeman-based couple launched what is probably the most successful Kickstarter campaign in Montana history. Their goal was to raise $70,000 to take their desktop computer-driven mill into production. In the first hour they surpassed that goal.

Access to capital is the second biggest barrier to growth for Montana’s high tech and manufacturing firms, according to a Montana High Tech Business Alliance survey conducted in February 2015.

Situated on the top floor of the historic Mary Innes School in Dillon is a technology company that does business internationally with Fortune 500 clients, employs local residents, and has grown 45 percent per year since it opened two years ago in the town known for farming, ranching, and blue-ribbon trout streams.

Technology boot camps and training programs are springing up around Montana to address the #1 barrier to growth for the state’s high tech and manufacturing firms: finding skilled technology workers.