Now that Maryland legislators have approved the $70 million InvestMaryland initiative to spur venture capital flows in the state, Baltimore-area institutions that are engaged in bringing institutional research to market are working the new money from Annapolis into their outlook.
Aris Melissaratos, Johns Hopkins University Senior Advisor to the President for Enterprise Development, is optimistic about the impact of InvestMaryland, which passed on April 11, on the commercialization process. Yet, he cautions that the funds need to be managed well to have a maximal impact:
"It is a great program assuming that the insurance companies are willing to pay their taxes up front at a discount," says Melissaratos, who spent decades as an executive at Westinghouse and has also served as head of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED). InvestMaryland funds will come from rebate incentives to Maryland insurance companies that pay their taxes in advance. "It is also imperative that the funds be managed wisely by both DBED and the private sector," he adds. In the end, Melissaratos says, "InvestMaryland will make start-up capital more available and, therefore, accelerate the discovery to market process as well as the technology transfer process."
Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Aris Melissaratos, Senior Advisor to the President of JHU for Enterprise Development