Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX November/December 2004

BUSINESS PLANNING & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

For researchers and product developers in medical fields, the Maryland counties that lie just outside the beltway of Washington, DC, are fertile ground. The region is home to major federal research and regulatory agencies—including FDA, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—as well as to two major life sciences research centers, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Ellen J. Hemmerly, executive director at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's techcenter@UMBC (Baltimore).

Also nearby is the techcenter @UMBC, a technology incubator located on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The incubator was founded in 1989, and was expanded in 1996 when UMBC purchased the 30-acre site. The Maryland Economic Development Corp. acquired the building with the help of $5 million in state funding, and converted it from a single-use to a multiuse facility. The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) provided another $400,000 to expand and renovate the facility's wet lab space.

Since its inception, techcenter@UMBC has accommodated 80 tenants and has graduated more than 20 companies. Two of its more successful graduates are In Vitro Technologies, winner of a TEDCO award as best incubator graduate, and Receptor Biology, which was sold to another life sciences company. Today, the incubator is home to 17 start-up and six emerging high-tech and biomedical companies, providing more than 250 jobs. It has the capacity for another 100,000 sq ft of development, providing 500 more jobs.

The incubator's companies work closely with 40 UMBC faculty and staff. The advice of incubator staff has helped client companies to acquire Small Business Innovation Research grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration as well as funding from TEDCO and the Maryland Industrial Partnership.

Copyright ©2004 MX