Hitech investment in Prince George's County

               Prince George’s County, MD is located in one of the world’s leading science research and technology transfer environments and within one of the largest and fastest growing state biological and agricultural science clusters in the United States. The research environment "encompasses universities, research institutions and federal agencies with significant and largely untapped potential to create commercial products, drive new bioscience company growth and deliver substantial economic impact according to a report commissioned by Prince George's County in 2009. The heart of the research cluster is in Prince George's County's hitech agrobio-technology crescent, which includes the UMd, BSU, USDA APHIS and ARS, ARL, FDA and NASA. In a geographic sense the research environment is effectively runs along an innovation corridor that stretches from the District of Columbia north through western Prince George’s County along US 1 to Howard County's Johns Hopkins University Advanced Physics Lab (APL). In other words, this is real economic development potential waiting for Prince George's County to notice, and waiting in some cases for over 100 years in the case of BARC.

               The Governor of Maryland has noted that our "State is home to nearly 500 bioscience companies and 50 research-intense federal institutes and centers. Maryland is well positioned in the global bioscience industry and has been recognized by the Milken Institute as one of the top tier states highly specialized in overall bioscience development. Since January 2010, the Federal Facilities Advisory Board has been developing a strategic plan to strengthen our partnerships with federal facilities like the NIH, so that we can expand opportunities for federal contracting and procurement, create jobs and grow Maryland’s economy." Prince George's should be actively pursuing collaboration with its existing federal and academic partners exploring partnerships to exploit the economic potential inherent in what is already here.

               Prince George's County should be showing the rest of the state how technology transfer is done. Prince George's County should be taking advantage of BARC and NASA's records of research and distribution of science to private industry; the county should be marketing itself as the place where the world comes to learn how to feed itself - a one stop solution to all things agriculture, for example.

               And just to be clear the State of Maryland want sot encourage private development and investment through a series of initiatives.  Based on the Governor's FFAC report Prince George's County should be encouraging "federal laboratories to highlight their innovation and technology to the business community. Invite federal laboratory employees to participate and present their business ideas to venture capitalists and businesses in the region; leveraging the State’s early seed funding programs such as Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPs) and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), in partnership with Federal Laboratory Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programs to support startup corporations. Phase I SBIRs could leverage MIPS or TEDCO support; and encouraging and incentivizing federal employees to commercialize their ideas in the state’s incubators; working with federal representatives to devote resources that encourage employees to submit patents and commercialize ideas."

                

Table 1 INTERIM REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE 2011

Area of Importance	Recommendations	Tactic	Status
Cyber Security	Creation of the National Cyber Security Center of Excellence (NCCOE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)	Develop and disseminate a white pager to the O’Malley-Brown Administration and the Maryland Congressional Delegation for the creation of the NCCOE	In process; Senate Appropriations Committee approved $10M for the creation of the center and $15M for cyber research at NIST in calendar year 2010. Final action to be determined in the 112th Congress.
Technology Commercialization	Create a Statewide Technology/Business Fair	Encourage federal laboratories to highlight their innovation and technology to the business community. Invite federal laboratory employees to participate and present their business ideas to venture capitalists and businesses in the region.	On-Going; the workgroup is further developing the initiative.
Technology Commercialization	Encourage State/Federal Small Business Partnership	Leverage the State’s early seed funding programs such as Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPs) and the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), in partnership with Federal Laboratory Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Programs to support startup corporations. Phase I SBIRs could leverage MIPS or TEDCO support.	On-Going; a tech transfer resource manual has been developed to evaluate current resources and outline how to improve on and create new programs.
Technology Commercialization	Create a Federal Venture Fund	Encourage and incentivize federal employees to commercialize their ideas in the state’s incubators. The federal government should devote resources that encourage employees to submit patents and commercialize ideas.	On-Going; coordinating efforts with University of Maryland System.
Federal Procurement	Develop a “Team Maryland” Network & Mentoring Program	The Network will be comprised of business development professionals from large, medium and small Maryland-based companies who market products or services to the federal government. It will foster cooperation between Maryland-based companies by teaching small companies best practices and providing “teaming” opportunities that can increase federal procurement expenditures in the State.	Created; 46 companies have signed up for the Network, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop-Grumman, ARINC, Smartronix, ERT Corp, CSC and Raytheon. The last planning meeting was held on February 18, 2011.