The Maryland Technology Development Corporation held its inaugural ICE Awards ceremony and conference at the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum on May 11. In addition to the awards ceremony, the program also featured a keynote speech by Peter Corbett, founder and CEO of iStrategy Labs.
TEDCO was established by the Maryland General assembly in 1998, with the mandate to be a leading source of seed capital funding and business assistance for entrepreneurs specializing in technology. In addition to funding, TEDCO also facilitates relationships between start-up tech firms and federal laboratories, research universities, and business incubators. Over 300 Maryland firms are associated with TEDCO.
"TEDCO is the largest seed investor in the region," says Robert Rosenbaum, president of TEDCO. "We thought it was about time that we should recognize the hard work of these folks."
The ICE Awards honor emerging industry leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship. The 2011 Innovation winner was Oculis Labs of Hunt Valley, a developer of encryption technology. Also honored as the 2011 Entrepreneur of the year was Dr. Chuck Daitch of Akonni Biosystems, a firm that develops and markets integrated molecular diagnostic systems. 2011 Company of the Year award winner Integrated BioTheraputics Inc. was honored for its growth and community involvement.
"This is a great forum for our community of collaborators to come together. Everything you see here, this is all 'wow' technology," continues Mr. Rosenbaum.
TEDCO is focused on finding the technologies and entrepreneurs of the future. The quasi-public company is looking to expand beyond state funding into venture capital.
Writer: Amy McNeal
Sources: TEDCO, Robert Rosenbaum & Kathleen Shaffer