The
Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) is looking for five tech firms that can help protect Americans against terrorist and other threats.
TEDCO has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Army to identify small companies that are developing unique security technology.
TEDCO is managing a $1.5 million federal program that will award a total of 11 grants, at $75,000 each, to the winning companies. Six grants have been awarded so far and all have gone to Maryland companies.
They are: TRX Systems, developer of Sentrix system; Smart Imaging Systems, robotic X-ray scanner; ES&T, explosive device solution; GenArraytion, biodefense; QuickSilver Analytics, field sampling kits; and BioFactura, biodefense.
This is not the first time TEDCO has managed a grant program for the military. For example, it recently did so for Fort Detrick and Aberdeen Proving Grounds in their request for proposals for technology companies.
TEDCO’s partners in the current program are the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the research and development arm of the agency, and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, the army’s main material developer. The technology must meet the needs of either or both of the partners, and can be in a variety of fields, from biodefense to robotics.
While TEDCO is not soliciting companies, the grant program is an open process. Applications for grants are still being accepted, and are available on TEDCO’s Web site, Robert Rosenbaum, TEDCO's president and executive director.
“We will release awards as companies are accepted,” he says.
Since the program began earlier this year, TEDCO has received about 45 grant requests from companies around the country. Of the 11 grants, six have been awarded. Five more grants are still to be awarded.
“It says a lot about the innovation that goes on in Maryland,” says Rosenbaum about the all-Maryland roster of grants so far.
Source: Robert Rosenbaum, TEDCO
Writer: Barbara Pash