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June 10, 2005 |
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TAP Director Testifies Before Congressional Committee on How to Bridge the Gap Between Inventors and Commercial Enterprises
Hearing Aimed at Bringing New Medical Technologies to BioShield
COLLEGE
PARK, Md. -- Scott Magids, director of the University of Maryland's innovative venture initiative for technology-based start-ups, the Technology Advancement Program (TAP), testified before a Congressional committee on June 9 about how to bridge the gap between technical inventors and viable commercial enterprises in the bio-defense market.
The testimony, for a hearing titled "Crossing the Valley of Death: Bringing Promising Medical Countermeasures to BioShield," occurred before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Project BioShield was enacted last year by Congress to develop and make available modern, effective drugs and vaccines to protect the U.S. against attack by biological and chemical weapons or other dangerous pathogens.
"Congress has become interested in the topic of technology commercialization--especially in the areas of bioterrorism and public safety," said Magids. "Technology innovation in these areas is not making it to the public arena fast enough because of the gap that exists between an individual technology creator and a viable company capable of bringing usable products to the marketplace."
Magids' testimony outlined three reasons for this gap:
- A lack of readily available professional management talent for technology creators;
- Inadequate seed funding; and
- Insufficient motivation for inventors to pursue commercialization.
To remove these obstacles, Magids explained, the University's A. James Clark School of Engineering has developed a comprehensive plan to accelerate technology commercialization through venture creation, both at the University and in the surrounding region. The five components of that plan are: education; hands-on support and funding access; internal and external communications; operating initiatives; and entrepreneurship culture-building.
Magids summarized the Clark School's education initiatives to increase technology commercialization, including entrepreneurship courses, the annual regional Technology Start-Up Boot Camp, the New Venture Challenge business plan competition, and faculty seminar series.
Magids outlined the TAP Program's role in hands-on support and funding access to successfully advance high-potential startups from infancy to sustainable commercial enterprises.
"TAP applies a rigorous company-building process to help create well-managed, well-planned, properly-funded commercial ventures," said Magids. "We serve as coaches, mentors, and marshals of resources to assist our companies."
TAP assists its companies in five key areas, Magids explained: (1) business planning and market analyses; (2) product development support; (3) corporate structure and IP protection; (4) team-building, namely executive recruiting; (5) and capital formation.
In addition, Magids elaborated upon TAP's initiatives to overcome the funding gap encountered by its seed-stage companies. First, TAP has designed an investment process and built close relationships with angel investors and venture capital investors. Secondly, TAP supports the angel and venture fundraising process for its companies with intense preparation, structure development, and terms negotiation.
Thirdly, TAP coaches its companies in applying for Federal and regional grants, namely for technology development. Lastly, TAP acts as a liaison to other State of Maryland and MTECH funding programs, including the State of Maryland Venture Fund and the highly successful Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) Program. The MIPS Program provides grants to Maryland start-ups, up to $150,000, to support technology and product development at a University of Maryland campus.
Magids described strategic communications designed to engage technical creators and the business community in the commercialization process. Furthermore, Magids credited the Clark School’s senior leadership for embracing commercialization and building towards an entrepreneurial culture.
"Our strategic plan to increase technology commercialization at the university and in the region appears to be working well," said Magids. "TAP-supported companies have now created 1,790 jobs and raised $260 million in angel and venture capital funding, including $15 million between 2004 and the present. In addition, the level of student and faculty entrepreneurship at the university has increased significantly in recent years."
TAP is a program of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, also called MTECH, the Clark School’s unit for advancing entrepreneurship and research.
For the complete Congressional testimony, visit http://help.senate.gov/testimony/t321_tes.html . For more information about TAP, visit http://www.tap.umd.edu.
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