Montana

Sectors it is courting

• Agribusiness
• Business and Professional Services
• Energy
• Healthcare
• Safety and Security
• Advanced Manufacturing

Investment it is seeking from

• Canada
• France
• Germany
• India
• Israel
• Japan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• United Kingdom

Site-selection services it offers

The state provides confidential, streamlined business development consulting to support your company in all phases of the corporate expansion/relocation project. The Montana Department of Commerce, Montana World Trade Center, and local/regional economic development partners across the state are ready to provide a full suite of site selection services, including detailed community profile data, assistance with taxes and incentives, introduction to local investment intermediaries, site visit coordination, and a thorough ‘Doing Business in Montana’ checklist to help you along the way. Montana may have a large geographic footprint, but also a tight knit business community eager to help companies in every step of the decision process.

Incentive programmes

• Other

  Incentives and financing options are available at both the state and the local level.

Shovel-ready sites

• Montana Connections Business Development Park is an industrial zoned business park with tax increment provision. More than 800 acres are available for industrial development, sold in parcels ranging from 7 to 250 acres. Infrastructure highlights include access to water, natural gas and power. The adjacent Port of Montana is the only Foreign Trade Zone General Purpose Warehouse within a five-state radius in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. This FTZ allows companies to decrease or eliminate costs on imports, avoid duties on direct exports and product processing fees, and wait for product quota restrictions to be lifted prior to paying an import duty on a finished product entering the U.S. market. The Port of Montana also offers dynamic transportation and shipping infrastructure, sitting at the intersection of Interstates 15 and 90, as well as rail service from both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads and a state-of-the-art transload facility.

  Site details

• Great Falls Montana Agri-Tech Park, located in North Central Montana, is a BNSF certified site. Currently offering seven, 300+ acre custom lots. Operational benefits of this site include access to large capacity municipal and spring water, gas, sewer and electricity as well as multiple fiber internet providers. Operating costs at this location are 92% of the U.S. average. Operational benefits include a nearby Foreign Trade Zone, job creation and training incentives, and adjacent location to the CanaMex 1-15 corridor. This site also features potential for future expansion and is focused on hosting logistics, advanced manufacturing, steel fabrication, energy and agriculture, and food and bioprocessing companies.

  Site details

• Yellowstone County Development Zones are designed to incentivize growth and development in these areas. These development areas include opportunity zones, new market tax credit areas, urban renewal districts, and business improvement districts.

  Site details

Programmes for international technology startups

The Entrepreneur Magnet Act exempts qualifying businesses from paying state capital gains tax on the sale of employee-owned stock. The Microbusiness Finance Program provides competitive loans for eligible businesses up to $100,000. A research and development firm organized to engage in business in the state of Montana for the first time is not subject to state corporate income taxes on net income during its first 5 taxable years of activity in Montana. There is no state sales tax in Montana, which may be particularly useful for capital intensive projects. This exemption includes electricity and natural gas purchases.

Incubators and accelerators

• Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC)

  MonTEC is a high-growth, technology focused business incubator that is building a community of high growth enterprises on the Clark Fork River by connecting people, and linking them with support services to help get their venture on the right track. In 2019, MonTEC, was awarded a regional innovation cluster development contract to promote bioscience startups in the state. The Montana Bioscience Cluster Initiative partners with MonTEC, the University of Montana, the Montana Bioscience Alliance, and other stakeholders to provide technical assistance to Montana's bioscience entrepreneurs.

University and workforce programmes

• University of Montana & Montana State University

  Both the University of Montana and Montana State University are designated as a top tier “R1” research institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Of the roughly 4,000 degree-granting institutions across the U.S., only 146 (about 3.7%) are honored with a “Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity” classification, also known as R1. Carnegie uses a variety of factors to determine whether a university qualifies for R1 status, including research spending, staffing levels to support the research enterprise and the number of doctorates awarded by the institution.

• Other State Universities & Colleges

  Carroll College, Rocky Mountain College, Flathead Community College,Miles Community College, Dawson Community College, UM- Western - Missoula & Helena, MSU- Billings - Northern & Bozeman, Fort Peck Community College, Blackfeet Community College, Montana Technological University, and University of Providence.

Additional services

Montana World Trade Center is a part of the World Trade Centers Association and is also a program of the University of Montana. Due in part to the state's relationship with the University of Montana, one aspect of their organization is dedicated to educational activities. Their team and partners have developed a suite of trainings on topics relevant to foreign businesses, such as importing/exporting from the state, and how to take advantage of the state’s Foreign Trade Zones. In addition to relevant training, Montana World Trade Center hosts virtual webinars, virtual/in-person trade missions (pre-COVID) and hosts incoming delegations to share key information about the state’s target industries and help connect international businesses to community partners across the state.

In its own words

Montana Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) strategy is an actionable plan to attract investment from foreign sources into state in the form of equity investment or greenfield development. Montana’s FDI plan includes several primary objectives to maximize Montana’s global visibility and competitiveness. 1. Support existing in-state FDI in order to retain and expand upon positive relationships already established. 2. Enhance our understanding of organically occurring FDI, in order to create an even more welcoming investment environment. 3. Strengthen economic ties between Montana and strategic international markets. 4. Improve and promote the state’s identity globally with a unified approach to increase interest in our key industries. 5. Target industries include, but are not limited to, agricultural processing, back office operations, bioscience, cloud computing, energy & extractives, manufacturing, nutraceuticals & functional foods, outdoor economy, and photonics & optics.

Investor account, as submitted

"The Hamilton site recently marked 40 years of operation since the founding of the site in the Bitterroot valley. Throughout this amazing journey of growth, the support from our local and state government and the Hamilton community has been outstanding,” said Stephen Brant, Hamilton Site Manager of GlaxoSmithKline. In April 2019, GlaxoSmithKline announced a significant expansion of their long-standing Montana-based manufacturing facility. “For more than a decade, our Hamilton facility has supported GSK’s adjuvant system development program,” said Jack Bailey, President of U.S. Pharmaceuticals, GSK. “By expanding the adjuvant system production capabilities in Hamilton, we will continue to deliver long-term and sustainable supply for key vaccines, including SHINGRIX.”

Submitted by the economic development organisation, not independently verified.

Regional partner organisations

• Big Sky Economic Developmentallison@bigskyeda.org(406) 256-6871
• Butte Local Development Corporationksullivan@bldc.net(406) 723-4349
• Great Falls Development Authoritybdoney@growgreatfalls.org(406) 750-4481

Who to contact

• Brigitta Miranda-FreerExecutive Directorbrigitta@mwtc.org

Gallagher Business Building, number 257, Missoula, MT 59812