BETHESDA, Md. – More than 200 personnel from the federal government, industry, academia and economic development entities registered for Maryland Department of Commerce’s inaugural Maryland Innovation & Technology (MINT) Series event on December 17th at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Main Campus. The MINT series intends to convene commercialization stakeholders within the state to discuss the latest breakthroughs, current challenges, and opportunities for collaboration in focused segments of Maryland’s biggest industries: biohealth, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing.
With a theme of neuroscience, the event was kicked off with a keynote address from Dr. Amir Tamiz, Director of Translational Research for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who discussed several extramural initiatives and funding opportunities. Next, a panel of C-suite executives representing companies working in spatial computing, neurosurgical devices, bioimaging, and digital health spoke to the difficulties of finding venture funding in neuroscience while cancer has been the ‘hot topic,’ the current regulatory environment for technologies in the space and the importance of collaboration. Representatives from the Defense Health Agency (DHA), US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center, Food & Drug Administration, NIH and NIST spoke on the mechanisms and processes for companies to partner with federal laboratories.
The final portion of the day brought researchers from the National Cancer Institute, National Institute for Mental Health, Army Research Lab, and the DHA to showcase some of the neuro-related technologies available for licensing and/or co-development. Technologies were meant to showcase the breadth of neuro research currently being performed throughout the federal laboratories here in Maryland and included therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and imaging.
The next workshop in the series will take place in March at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Gaithersburg, Maryland.