Howard Community College has been awarded a three-year grant worth more than half a million dollars to bring more technology inventions to the marketplace.
“The idea is to increase the development of inventions from government-funded labs and teach people how to take an invention, analyze it and develop it,” said Martha Matlick, the college?s project manager for the grant.
Matlick said the inventions could include communications and diagnostic equipment. The school is overseeing the implementation of the Technology Assessment Program grant, worth about $600,000. The Partnerships for Innovation Program, part of the National Science Foundation, awarded the money.
The college is partnering with the county Economic Development Authority, Howard County Public School System, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center and Naval Research Laboratory.
The money will pay for a new course this fall called “Technology Transfer From Invention to the Marketplace,” which is available to college and high school students. They will form teams and review the inventions for marketability. Their work will be presented to the business community, including entrepreneurs, technology transfer specialists and venture capitalists.
Wayne Swann, director of technology transfer at Johns Hopkins, said the course willgive students a broad overview of how inventions get to the marketplace. “They?ll be introduced to marketing, licensing and patents,” he said.
Students also will make connections with business owners. “My role on the [Technology Assessment Program] is to connect students to the business community … by giving them someone to oversee their work and give them advice,” said Victor Hess, vice president of the Howard County Economic Development Authority.
At a glance
Five technology transfer inventions, including software for radar systems in the U.S. Navy, precision clocks for satellites and a system to detect anthrax, have been developed with the assistance of the Center for Business and Technology Development, part of the Howard County Economic Development Authority.
Source: Howard County Economic Development Authority
