State pours millions into partnering universities with companies to fund 15 technology projects
[1] In what could serve as a national model for states, universities, and the private sector to help bring innovative technology closer to market, one state’s inspiring partnership initiative announced its decision to fund 15 technology projects based on university research.
The Maryland Industrial Partnerships [2](MIPS) program, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute [3] (Mtech) in the A. James Clark School of Engineering [4] at the University of Maryland, has approved 15 research projects worth $4.1 million to 15 teams combining Maryland companies with state university researchers to bring technology products closer to market, announced program officials.
MIPS grants money—matched with company funds—to faculty engaged in each project to help accelerate technology and boost the economy. Commercial products benefiting from MIPS projects have generated more than $28.1 billion in revenue, added thousands of jobs to the region, and contributed to successful products such as Martek Biosciences’ nutritional oils, Hughes Communications’ HughesNet, MedImmune’s Synagis, and Black & Decker’s Bullet Speed Tip Masonry Drill Bit, says MIPS.
This is the 53rd round of MIPS grants. The program has supported research projects with more than 500 different Maryland companies since 1987.
For this round of funding, companies are contributing $2.8 million and MIPS $1.3 million to the jointly funded projects. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources [5] and the Environmental Protection Agency [6] provided additional funding.
The funding is intended to partner faculty with 11 startups. Four projects, the most for a single MIPS round, include companies from the Maryland Eastern Shore. Projects range from oyster-farming technologies to developing a free online mathematics system.
“MIPS…serves as a national model of how to leverage the intellectual power of our universities to drive innovation and the economy,” said MIPS Director Joseph Naft in a statement. “The program attracts Maryland’s entrepreneurs, enabling them to multiply their R&D efforts by engaging world-class faculty and graduate students to do real-world research.”
(Next page: The 15 technology projects)
Naft noted that because of the $28.1 billion in revenue generated by MIPS-supported products, as well as tax revenue, “you have a return on investment of 30 to 1.”
He also emphasized that more than 5,000 current jobs have resulted from MIPS projects, many of them from big-impact companies such as MedImmune, Hughes Network Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
“MIPS is an example of how companies, academe and government can all work together to propel [states] forward.”
6 universities, 15 technology projects (by institution):
1. Frostburg State University
- ($625,000) George Rinard, professor, department of computer science and information technologies, teams with Hagerstown-based vCalc LLC [7] to develop the company’s free on-line mathematics system, which provides a large and growing library of equations and data items that are used daily in academia, industry and society.
2. St. Mary’s College of Maryland
- ($114,094) Robert Paul [8], professor, department of biology, partners with Tall Timbers-based Shore Thing Shellfish [9] to develop “in situ” or “on site” methods for seeding oysters without using land-based tanks.
3. Salisbury University
- ($153,575) Samuel Geleta [10], associate professor, department of biological sciences, works with Rock Hall-based GreatGrow Maryland LLC [11] to test the company’s soil amendment, which could dramatically increase crop yields and reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and chemical pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
4. University of Maryland, Baltimore
- ($203,161) Katherine Tkaczuk [12], professor of medicine, works with Columbia-based A&G Pharmaceutical Inc. [13] to conduct a prospective clinical study to examine the potential of the company’s GP88 biomarker as a blood test for early breast cancer screening.
- ($158,000) Jill Whitall [14], professor, department of physical therapy and rehabilitation science, teams with Baltimore-based Rehabtics LLC [15]to develop a software system for physical rehabilitation using customized, motion-controlled rehabilitation video games.
5. University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
- ($256,274) Donald Meritt [16], principal agent, Horn Point Laboratory, partners with Crisfield-based Metompkin Seafood Inc. [17] to develop an automated spat-on-shell oyster production system.
6. University of Maryland, College Park
- ($166,428) Allen Davis [18], professor, department of civil and environmental engineering, teams with Church Hill-based High Impact Environmental Inc. [19] to provide research and development support for the company’s Agricultural Stormwater Cascade System to manage and reduce runoff from agricultural field systems.
- ($151,001) Jonathan Dinman [20], professor, department of cell biology and molecular genetics, partners with Towson-based Birich Technologies LLC [21] to develop gene-silencing technology as both a research tool and potential cancer therapeutic.
- ($1,109,320) Jungho Kim [22], professor, department of mechanical engineering, works with Germantown-based Earth Networks [23] to extend the company’s WeatherBug Home [24] residential energy efficiency product, which integrates key weather variables into home energy management and demand response programs.
- ($162,736) Stephanie Lansing [25], assistant professor, department of environmental science and technology, partners with Halethorpe-based Fiberight LLC [26] to develop a technology platform for the conversion of non-recycled, organic municipal solid waste (MSW) streams into advanced biofuels, including digester biogas.
- ($157,330) Isaak Mayergoyz [27], professor, department of electrical and computer engineering, works with College Park-based CoolCAD Electronics LLC [28]to build a novel, compact and highly efficient Silicon Carbide (SiC)-based on-board charger for the next generation of plug-in electric vehicles.
- ($241,980) Reinhard Radermacher [29], professor, department of mechanical engineering, works with Annapolis-based XChanger Companies Inc. [30] to evaluate the energy-saving potential and thermal comfort of the company’s air delivery unit, which initial studies have shown yield potential HVAC operating savings of between 18-31 percent.
- ($133,651) Srinivasa Raghavan [31], professor, department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, partners with College Park-based Remedium Technologies Inc. [32] to develop a hemostatic putty for treating battlefield wounds.
- ($134,864) Charles Schwartz [33], professor, department of civil and environmental engineering works with Waldorf-based Pothole Pros LLC [34] to integrate quality assurance into the company’s infrared pavement repair technology.
- ($334,500) Yang Tao [35], professor, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, teams with Fishing Creek-based Hoopers Island Oyster Aquaculture Co. [36] to develop oyster sorting and grading technologies to support and expand the oyster industry in Maryland.
For information about the historical economic impact of the MIPS program, an independent study titled “An Analysis of the Impacts of MIPS Program Spending and the Commercialization of MIPS Funded Projects on the State of Maryland,” by Richard Clinch, from the Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore, is available online. [37]
Materials from a press release were used in this report.