News

A new report on sea level rise recommends that the State of Maryland should plan for a rise in sea level of as much as 2 feet by 2050. Led by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the report was prepared by a panel of scientific experts in response to Governor Martin O’Malley’s Executive Order on Climate Change and “Coast Smart” Construction. The projections are based on an assessment of the latest climate change science and federal guidelines.

“The State of Maryland is committed to taking the necessary actions to adapt to the rising sea and guard against the impacts of extreme storms,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “In doing so, we must stay abreast of the latest climate science to ensure that we have a sound understanding of our vulnerability and are making informed decisions about how best to protect our land, infrastructure, and most importantly, the citizens of Maryland.”

Startup Maryland (www.startupmd.org), an initiative of the UpGlobal consortium (www.up.co), today announced that UNDER ARMOUR® Founder and CEO Kevin Plank will participate as the first instructor for Raise Your Game™.   

Raise Your Game is Startup Maryland’s bootcamp initiative developed to provide the entrepreneurial community with a structured educational program and to help startup CEOs and founders understand and employ the building blocks of strong startups and startup communities.  The new twist for this bootcamp is that the sessions will be proctored/taught by experienced (often serial) entrepreneurs who are very well-recognized and respected.

The INNo program trains research scientists in the entrepreneurial skills needed to bring technology inventions and services to the healthcare market.

Participants in the INNo program learn to:

• Identify and evaluate the commercial potential of intellectual property
• Understand the business fundamentals related to technology start-ups
• Create a value proposition and business concept for a new product, platform, or service
• Articulate investment opportunities persuasively to potential investors and partners
• Develop a network of resources in the Maryland entrepreneurial community

Ernst & Young unveiled its Entrepreneur of the Year Maryland winners on Wednesday night to a packed ballroom at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, with honors going to former Advertising.com CEO Scott Ferber, the entire Kelly clan and longtime Living Classrooms head James Piper Bond.

A total of 10 awards were given out during a black-tie affair. The awards program recognizes high-growth entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. The finalists and winners were selected by a panel of independent judges.

Gaithersburg’s largest private employer will add some 110 new jobs to its local and Frederick offices and seeks to take its revenues to unprecedented heights by 2020, a  official told the Gaithersburg mayor and City Council Monday.

MedImmune’s Gaithersburg headquarters currently house 2,300 employees, approximately 66 percent of the company’s international jobs, MedImmune Executive Vice President of Operations Andy Skibo said, including the addition of 830 jobs over the past five years.

“Virtually all of MedImmune is practically here in Gaithersburg or just up the road in Frederick,” Skibo said, but the biotech company continues to expand.

MyBodyCount® (MBC), a health and wellness platform that enables individuals to track their lifestyle-based health risk, today introduced the first-ever clinical health score available to the public. The MBC Health Score was developed using actuarial science working in conjunction with Dr. Hunter Young, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) and Dr. Dhananjay Vaidya, Associate Professor of Medicine at JHUSOM.

The score is based on a panel of biomarkers, referred to as the BodyCount8™, that are predictors of the risk of health events and conditions related to heart, kidney and lung diseases and diabetes. The biomarkers can be affected by modifying behaviors including: eating, exercising, smoking and medication adherence. The score enables consumers to understand their lifestyle-based risk relative to their age group and gender.

Research universities and start-up companies receive funds to further develop technologies in the fields of therapeutic, software, medical, mobile and online technologies

The Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII), which accelerates commercialization and technology transfer from university labs to start-up companies, announced it has awarded $2,960,466 to 29 research projects. Funds were awarded to nine start-up companies and 20 university projects – three of these projects include a partnership between two universities working together on technology development. Awards were given across a variety of industries, including therapeutic, software, medical, mobile and online technologies. MII is administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).

“Maryland has some of the best research universities in the nation and an incredible entrepreneurial spirit, which is evident in the awards granted through the Maryland Innovation Initiative,” said Dominick Murray, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. “With a progressive approach to university research and technology development, Maryland is well positioned to build on our history of discovery, innovation and invention.”

Connecticut Innovations is taking a new investment approach as it prepares to launch a $200 million fund to spur bioscience research and development in the state.

The fund, originally pitched by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and approved by lawmakers during the recent legislative session, will provide grants, equity investments, loans and loan guarantees to bioscience related initiatives over the next 10 years.

In one of his recent blogs at Life Sci VC, Atlas Venture’s Bruce Booth makes the optimists’ case for venture capital investments in the life sciences. Booth’s message is that life sciences venture capital is healthy but misunderstood, but he misses the forest for the trees in important ways.

Based on my 27 years in the venture industry, I would argue that another ten years like the last decade would put life sciences venture capital in serious jeopardy. I’ve seen estimates from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) that predict the number of U.S. venture firms will be one-third of the pre-2007 level by the time the post-meltdown shakeout has run its course—and the number of VC partners will be a quarter of what it was. My guess is that life sciences as a subset will fare even worse.

Johns Hopkins University is seeing strong interest for the university’s first business accelerator — a faster than expected response from what director John Fini had projected.

“It’s like we’re tapping into something,” said Fini, who also leads the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialization on the university’s Homewood campus. “The palate was there. They just didn’t have an outlet.”

The accelerator, called FastForward, opened in January to Hopkins faculty members and students interested in pursuing business ideas with their research. The university is holding an official grand opening for the accelerator June 27.