Maryland Department of Commerce

The Maryland Department of Commerce in partnership with federal lab tech transfer offices (TTOs), county economic development organizations, and military alliances will expand the recently piloted Maryland Defense Technology Commercialization (DefTech) Center from a successful initiative into a statewide network. Maryland is uniquely positioned to leverage the significant defense research and development infrastructure and rapid intellectual property generated from federal labs located in several key defense epicenters throughout the state to enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In direct partnership with TTOs, DefTech’s unique programs focus on educating entrepreneurs in the process of creating new products and supporting them to do so with connections across the defense innovation cluster. DefTech strengthens the entrepreneurial ecosystem by helping to create new dual-use technologies that can be more rapidly deployed to the marketplace, thereby diversifying Maryland’s economy.

This effort is anticipated to create 15 new private sector companies, 75 new jobs in high tech industries and $21.5 million in private investments within the 3-year grant period.