MTC Highlight

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Showcase Your Innovation at the BIO International Convention in San Diego, June 19-22, 2017 in the Maryland Pavilion!

The BIO International Convention (BIO 2017) attracts 16,000 biotechnology and pharma leaders who come together for one week of intensive networking to discover new opportunities and promising partnerships. The conference brings together a wide spectrum of life science and application areas including drug discovery, biomanufacturing, genomics, biofuels, nanotechnology and cell therapy.

Exhibiting in the Pavilion gives you the opportunity to represent your company and Maryland’s innovative life sciences industry while you make valuable business contacts with other life science companies and investors. Maryland’s booth is in a prime location on the exhibit floor, and the space comes at a fraction of the cost. The purchase of your space will include a ticket to Maryland’s reception, leadership breakfast, use of private and open meeting spaces, logo/video on the main stage of the Maryland pavilion, and so much more!  To secure your space, please contact Michelle Ferrone at michelle@mdtechcouncil.com.

Cost Savings Program

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The Maryland Tech Council is excited to announce a NEW Best-in-Class Cost-Savings Program for Shipping Services with UPS. 

MTC member companies currently enrolled in the old FedEx program can expect to see additional savings of 10%-20% just by switching to UPS.   Take action and ENROLL NOW or click here for more information.  The  Maryland Tech Counncil uses the buying power of the entire industry to deliver to every member—as a FREE benefit—exclusive deep savings and premier services from UPS.  The special pricing and benefits include:ups

Mentoring Services

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Grow your Future with the Maryland Tech Council Venture Mentoring Services Program

The program is based on a team mentoring approach modeled after the highly-successful MIT Venture Mentoring Service which has been implemented in more than 60 communities around the globe.  The results have been stunning in terms of capital raised, job growth and company survival.  Mentors and mentee companies participate by invitation.  There is no fee to the mentee company for the mentoring program.

The ultimate goal of the program is to bring employment opportunities and capital to the area in the technology and life sciences fields by helping companies to grow faster. MTC VMS will provide mentoring services to Maryland tech and life sciences companies with a demonstrated proof of concept that are preparing for their first venture or institutional financing.

We are seeking mentee company candidates that meet the parameters for the mentor program.

Prospective mentees generally should have:

  1. A “tie” to Maryland;
  2. A tech or biotech product or service with proof of concept established in someway;
  3. At least one full time employee (presumably, the CEO);
  4. A direction towards obtaining “series A investments”

For more information or to apply online, click here.

Workforce Development

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The State of Maryland Jobs Initiative Package

It’s still early in the year, but the State of Maryland has announced a jobs initiative package that lays out incentives for job creation, STEM education, cyber training grants, and workforce development. A press release issued by the Office of Governor Larry Hogan outlines details of the package below.

As the centerpiece of Governor Hogan’s Maryland Jobs Initiative, this proposed legislation will aim to create thousands of jobs where they are needed most by eliminating all state taxes for ten years for new manufacturing employers that create jobs in high unemployment areas. To encourage existing Maryland manufacturers to add more jobs in these targeted employment zones, the governor’s proposal provides a tax credit for any new jobs they create. It also enables these companies to accelerate the deductions of their capital assets to free up capital for investment in new technology needed to create the jobs of the future. Qualifying jurisdictions currently include Baltimore City and Allegany, Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester counties.

P-TECH Expansion: Governor Hogan announced additional investments to open six new Pathways in Technology Early College (P-TECH) high schools throughout the state, as well as funding to support students currently enrolled at existing P-TECH schools. P-TECH, co-developed by IBM, is an innovative, nationally recognized education model that blends high school, college, and work experience into one innovative program where graduates obtain a two-year associate degree in a STEM career field at no additional cost. P-TECH Dunbar and P-TECH Carver, both located in Baltimore City, opened for the 2016-17 school year.

Maryland Partnership for Workforce Quality: The governor announced a $1 million investment for this program to encourage businesses to invest in employee training, ultimately making Maryland more competitive by ensuring that the state’s workforce has access to the most up-to-date skills needed in an ever-changing job landscape.

Cyber Jobs Training Grants: The Hogan administration will make a $3 million investment to provide funding for cyber job training grants, modeled after Maryland’s nationally recognized Employment Advancement Right Now (EARN) workforce training program. More than 1,700 unemployed or underemployed workers have received training through the EARN program, and this cyber-specific EARN grant will address skills gaps in growing industries like security engineering and software development to provide the qualified workforce needed to continue growing Maryland’s vibrant cyber industry.

Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Program: This proposal improves an existing program by making tax credits accessible to investors in cybersecurity startups. Modeled on Maryland’s successful biotechnology tax credit, this initiative will continue to grow Maryland’s cybersecurity community, support small businesses, and incentivize investment in innovation.

Capital

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The Angels Among Us

For the most part, the transition from being an employee to being an entrepreneur is a really exciting time. You can implement your vision of how to create and sell a product or service, hire the people you want, and take the company in the direction of your choosing. In theory, that’s all true, however, you also need capital to make all of those things happen. In the very early stages, bootstrapping may be a good option; you could use money from your savings account or ask friends and relatives for an initial investment. So what happens when that money runs out and you’re not ready for venture capital funding? This is often a great time to look for an angel investor to give your company the capital it needs for that in-between stage.

In a nutshell, angel investors are high net-worth individuals who invest their own money in new companies. Angels typically invest between $25,000 and $100,000 and get in at the final, or beta stage, of product development. Angels invest in a company in exchange for equity ownership or convertible debt and because angels have no one to answer to or pay back, their investment terms are often negotiable based on a variety of self-determined factors. Alone, most angels can’t make a living off of their investments, however, angels do form groups, or syndicates, which enable them to invest larger amounts. Because these groups of angels pool their money for larger investments and bigger paybacks, the flexibility of the process is greatly reduced and naturally requires more due diligence.

As they say, angels are everywhere, and we’ve provided a short list of local angel investors along with some information about their companies.

Dingman Center Angels

The Dingman Center Angels is a Maryland-based angel investment group that provides funding to early stage companies located within the Mid-Atlantic region. They are looking for innovative, technology-driven startup companies addressing a significant market opportunity where their investment and expertise can make a difference. They introduce entrepreneurs to potential investors through presentations at monthly meetings which are held from September to June. Their group looks to invest $100,000 to $1,000,000 in seed/early stage companies and will often syndicate with other angel groups and VCs for deals up to $2 million. The Dingman Center Angels is not a fund and does not invest as a group. Their members collaborate on due diligence but make individual investment decisions. If you’re interested in the Dingman Center Angels, visit bit.ly/2l1Hwkl.

Baltimore Angels

Baltimore Angels is an angel investor group founded in 2009. Its mission is to invest profitably in the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem and advance early stage innovators to the next stage of capital formation. They are looking for early stage technology-based companies run by entrepreneurs with a strong vision and who are typically just beyond a friends-and-family round. Investments are made in a variety of industries including business products, computers, consumer goods, education, and several other categories. The Baltimore Angels have invested in, among others, Canvas, Parking Panda, Social Toaster, and ZeroFOX. Meetings are held monthly in Baltimore and they welcome interested investors and entrepreneurs from around the country. You can find more information about the Baltimore Angels at www.baltimoreangels.com./

Hivers and Strivers 

Hivers and Strivers is an angel investment group focusing on early stage investments to support start-up companies founded and run by graduates of the U.S. military academies. Most of their investors have served in the military and are successful senior executives with experience in a broad range of industries and business models. They typically invest $250,000 to $1,000,000 in a single round. When larger financing rounds are needed, they will actively look to syndicate deals with other investment groups in their network. Their goals are to support young veteran entrepreneurs and to facilitate a successful exit for both company founders and investors alike that provides a return of 10x the initial investment. More information about Hivers and Strivers can be found at http://www.hiversandstrivers.com./

Government Relations

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Maryland General Assembly 2017 – The Halfway Point

As the 2017 Maryland General Assembly session reaches the halfway point in its 90-day life, the Maryland Tech Council is engaged on several fronts to impact legislation, which both helps and harms Maryland’s Innovation economy.

Below is a brief summary of the current status of issues where MTC is most heavily involved.

SB 437 – Manufacturer Reporting and Drug Price Transparency – Oppose – Marty Rosendale, Executive Director, BioScience Division and Vice Chairman Brad Stewart both presented testimony against this legislation that would single out Maryland as inhospitable to drug research and manufacturing entities.  The simplistic slogans of the proponents hide a costly and complex reporting requirement that will have no impact on the price of drugs paid by the consumer.  The House version of this bill (HB 631) will be heard on February 23rd and MTC will again present testimony. Meanwhile, MTC will actively participate in a “workgroup” session scheduled for February 27th with the Senate Finance Committee.

SB 226 – Biotechnology Investment Tax Credit – Support – On February 17th, this bill was approved by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee.  This approval is a key step to this legislation becoming law.  The bill extends the time of eligibility for this tax credit for biotechnology companies at the beginning of their life.

SB 200 – Income Tax Credit for Qualified R &D Expenses – Support – CEO Tami Howie presented testimony in support of this bill in January.  On Feburary17th, the Budget and Taxation Committee approved increasing the cap on the aggregate amount of tax credits for eligible R&D expenses from $9 million to $20 million in each calendar year.  This increase is phased in over three years.  Currently, the amounts requested for this tax credit in eligible applications far exceeds the cap.

HB 161 – Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund – Support – MTC testified at the hearing on this important bill and continues to contact members of the Legislature to explain the organization’s support.  This bill changes and updates Maryland’s largest public lending fund to allow for loans for working capital.  This is significant for tech companies whose greatest asset is human capital, not buildings or specialized machinery.

SB400 – BioSafety Level 3 Labs- Registration – Oppose – MTC submitted testimony arguing that this new State registration requirement may duplicate Federal requirements and that the language of the bill would create confusion within the new regulatory agency – the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  At the conclusion of testimony, the Chairman of the Committee stated that he was holding the bill to see if that Department could create a voluntary notification for labs.

As always, if you have any questions about these issues or others you have heard about you are welcome to contact either Joy Weber, Esq. (jweber@rwl.com) or Pat Roddy, Esq. ( proddy@rwl.com) for more information.

Member Spotlight

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Montgomery College

Much of Maryland’s workforce pipeline starts at local two- and four-year colleges and with the help of federal grants, students at Montgomery College will be able to get a solid head start on their IT careers. Alton Henley, Senior Program Director at Montgomery College, met with the Maryland Tech Council (MTC) to explain the new program they are developing with funds from the America’s Promise Grant—an outgrowth of the TAACCCT grant.

MTC is a partner with employers, community organizations, and community colleges across the state, including Montgomery College, in Cyber-Technology Pathways Across Maryland (CPAM). CPAM intends, over the next four years of the grant and beyond, to build a pipeline of skilled cyber security workers who will attain certifications, associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, work-based learning opportunities, and, ultimately, good jobs in technology and cyber security.  

Give us an overview of the America’s Promise grant.

America’s Promise grants are awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to 23 regional workforce partnerships in 28 states. These grants are designed to develop and expand workforce partnerships to provide a pipeline of skilled workers in industries such as information technology, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, financial services, and educational services.

The state of Maryland received $5.63 million to be used over four years and this money is divided among Montgomery College, Frederick Community College, and Prince George’s Community College. The three schools combined have promised to serve 1,070 students, and Montgomery College will be educating 700 of those students.

It sounds like the America’s Promise grant is similar to the TAACCCT grant.

The America’s Promise grant is an outgrowth of the TAACCCT grant. Money from the TAACCCT grant is used to prepare students for employment in high-wage, high-skill occupations by using innovative strategies and methods for delivering instruction. The program that Montgomery College built from TAACCT funds is focused primarily on cybersecurity, and it is called CyberAdvantage. It is a formal, two-semester program that focuses on desktop, network, and application security. The goal is to help students understand the fundamentals of cybersecurity with the goal of preparing to obtain two baseline industry certifications. We also help them write resumes, and we conduct mock interviews and guide them to career opportunities.

Tell us about the program being developed at Montgomery College specifically under the America’s Promise grant. 

The money from the America’s Promise grant will be used for a new program that is designed to help students top off, if you will, their programming skills. Whereas the CyberAdvantage program introduces students to a field within IT, this new program will help students get additional training in skills that they have already learned. For example, some students may have training in theory, but they don’t have the tools. We offer the technical tools, like training on how to write a complete application in Java. It’s this type of hands-on experience that companies are looking for. Our program is akin to a bootcamp that will help students finish their journey in a way that directly prepares them for the work world. We’re trying to stem the tide of having students enroll in one of the expensive bootcamps that charge up to $16,000 for three months of training.

The program will be built upon the knowledge and experience that we have in this area. Infosys is one of our partners, and we have conducted this type of training before. Also, I’ve been a developer for 39 years having first learned in a programming class that my mother, a former employee at the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), taught when I was 9 years old. Suffice it to say that we know what works.

What do prospective students need to know about the program?

First, students must have, or be within one semester of obtaining a four-year degree and they must also participate in pre-work, which is an online class that sets a baseline for capability. From those students, we will choose who we think will be successful and benefit most from the program.

This is an in-person program, and the first class will start on May 22. Students will be in the classroom for eight hours a day for eight weeks at the Gaithersburg Business Training Center. It will be like working on the job, and in the end, it almost equates to having a minor in Java. Students will learn how to write, fix, change, and complete their work and they will be given constructive feedback. The program addresses the Oracle certification in Java which is a stackable entry-level certification. We like to say that this program is purposeful practice through self-direction.

How can readers get more information on this program or other IT programs at Montgomery College?

They can contact me at alton.henley@montgomerycollege.edu or at 240.567.3826.

Government Relations

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Technology Highlights of Governor Hogan’s
Proposed Budget

The Maryland General Assembly will begin its deliberation of Governor Hogan’s FY 2018 this month. Governor Hogan has proposed several items that have significance to Maryland’s technology community in particular, as well as to the business community in general. Most significant to all private sector entities, the Governor is proposing no new or increased taxes or fees for the coming year. Other highlights include:

  • An increase of $10.2 million to the State’s primary economic development loan fund (Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund, commonly referred to as MEDAAF);
  • An allocation of $20 million to retain Marriott International’s new worldwide headquarters in Maryland;
  • An initial $5 million on the commitment of $20 million to assist Northrop Grumman;
  • $12 million for the Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credit;
  • $2 million for the Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit;
  • $4.8 million for the Maryland Innovation Initiative to promote commercialization of research from Maryland universities
  • $900,000 for the Cyber Security Investment Fund

There is some controversy within the General Assembly about the Governor’s budget priorities. This means that the initiatives outlined above are by no means secure from reduction or even elimination. The Tech Council of Maryland will be directly involved with legislators in the coming months to make sure they maintain these critical programs.

Mentoring Services

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Grow your Future with our Venture Mentoring Services Program

As we wind up 2016, our pilot year, we are pleased to report success.  From 0 to 14 mentee companies and 50 trained mentors TCM VMS achieved its goals for the pilot.  Mentee companies are actively engaged with their mentor teams and reports from the mentees indicate a uniform sense of progress. We continually receive thank yous and praise for the program. And, we have a first capital raise of $500,000.  Our goal is to reach 30 mentee companies in service in 2017.

With the expanding interest and participation, as well as our improving operational efficiencies, we have capacity to continue expanding.  We are seeking mentee company candidates that meet the parameters for the program. Mentees come by referral.  If you can identify a candidate company, please do so by contacting Pam Lubel, VMS Program Manager at MTC (Plubel@techcouncilmd.com). 

Prospective mentees generally should have:

  1. A “tie” to Maryland;
  2. A tech or biotech product or service with proof of concept established in someway;
  3. At least one full time employee (presumably, the CEO);
  4. A direction towards obtaining “series A investments”

We are looking for companies beyond the earliest stages, but still young in the development cycle and in need of practical assistance with growth and scaling issues.

For more information or to apply, contact Pam Lubel: plubel@techcouncilmd.com or apply online at http://www.techcouncilmd.com/tcm/pdf/application.pdf

Cost Savings Program

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MTC wants to remind you that your membership gives you the leverage of our entire industry’s financial clout to deliver to your company – as a FREE benefit – exclusive deep savings and premier services from leading suppliers! At no cost to you, sign up here for any of the programs and get a $25.00 gift card. 

Each supplier knows the unique risks and challenges of our high-stakes industry. Each has been selected to give your company savings and services usually reserved for only the very largest enterprises.

MTC and VWR are committed to supporting your research efforts by helping you maximize your purchasing power and streamlining your supply chain.

MTC and VWR have recently enhanced our highly competitive science-specific membership program, giving you access to contracted pricing from the leading distributor in life science research.

The Advantages of Enrolling – Gain the edge you need in the highly competitive life science arena. Put these powerful advantages to work in your business now: 

Stretch your lab budget with…

  • Customized pricing for over 8,600 items, with some of the industry’s best pricing and savings of up to 75% off list
  • Flexibility — high-volume items may be added to your VWR hot list to match your company’s local pricing
  • Industry leading pricing on most branded equipment and instruments
  • VWRCATALYST service discounts – 5% off new service engagements
  • Annual fee waived for laboratory supplies inventory management powered by VSR+ technology
  • Rebates direct to the member for e-commerce purchases and growth in annual spend

Move your research forward with…

  • NEXT-DAY DELIVERY to most locations nationally via VWR’s Regional Distribution Center network
  • NO MINIMUM ORDER required
  • FREE STANDARD GROUND SHIPPING from VWR’s vast distribution network to your facility from VWR’s primary warehouse
  • Detailed quarterly usage and PERFORMANCE REPORTING PACKAGE
  • VWR PAYS SURCHARGES for fuel and hazardous materials
  • REDISHIP FURNITURE shipped within 48 hours of ordering
  • ADDITIONAL AFTER HOURS CUSTOMER SERVICE support exclusively for VWR-MTC program members

Enrollment is quick and easy. For specifics on VWR and all of your member cost savings benefits, click here, sign up and get a $25.00 gift card.