State of Maryland sponsors incubator fund

Awaiting the governor’s signature is a recently passed bill authorizing The Maryland Innovation Initiative Fund, under the direction of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation. The state will contribute $5M to the fund, designed to help university-spawned “concepts” reach start-up company stage and commercialize their inventions by providing marketing and support to the technology transfer offices that already exist at participating universities.

Five universities are early participants: Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Morgan State University. The Fund is scheduled to begin operating July 1.