Larry Murphy wasn’t looking to work for a gun manufacturer. As a techie with experience at Semitool and Applied Materials, he was more interested in how technology can disrupt an industry

Montana High Tech Business Alliance is highlighting 15 Montana companies to watch in 2017. To form this list, we looked for startups and growth companies that fit at least one of our criteria.

At the Montana High Tech Business Alliance the stories we’re excited to tell in 2016 – about the state of the industry, high-growth companies, and scores of new employees hired - all point to a state on the rise.Here’s a sneak peek at five positive trends I see in the year ahead for Montana businesses.

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.

Montana High Tech Business Alliance members have a starring role in the summer issue of the Montana Business Quarterly out this month. T

In December 2014, the Alliance Board met for an extended strategy session to set our mission and goals for 2015. Our mission for Montana's High Tech and Manufacturing companies is summed up in three verbs: Connect. Promote. Accelerate. Here are some of the ways the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is delivering on that mission so far this year.

In November 2014, the Alliance commissioned a survey from the UM Bureau of Business and Economic Research of 101 members with high tech and manufacturing operations in Montana. The results are in!Member responses allowed us to capture - for the first time ever - data measuring the size and growth potential of Montana's high tech sector.

What started out as a two-person shop on a family farm has grown into a multi-million dollar company, which employs 50 people in the heart of Montana.Spika Welding and Manufacturing specializes in designing and manufacturing industrial work platforms and ground support equipment for people working on military aircraft, tactical vehicles, and satellites. Last year, Spika Welding was named “Manufacturing Exporter of the Year."

Situated in the geographic center of Montana in the midst of rolling hills, farms, and ranches is something a little unexpected: one of the most vibrant manufacturing communities in the state. With a population of about 6,500, Lewistown, Mont. has a cluster of companies that design, engineer, and manufacture products for airports, oil companies, federal agencies, food distribution centers, sports arenas, hospitals, banks, schools, the military, and the aerospace industry, to name a few.