Ever since President Obama issued a 2011 Presidential Memorandum on accelerating technology transfer and commercialization of federal research in support of high-growth businesses, the commercialization of technology invented at federal labs has become a top priority in the United States.
As one of only seven universities in the country selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to broadly teach Lean Startup as an I-Corps Node in NSF’s National Innovation Network, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business offers Fed Tech as part of the UMD-led DC I-Corps program.
Students who participate in this entrepreneurship program work with entrepreneurs, regional investors and instructors to identify and penetrate potential markets for new technology. According to the Smith School, students work directly with a technology transfer program team at a federal lab to identify potential customers and commercialization opportunities for their assigned technology.
The seven-week DC I-Corps Fed Tech course is offered each fall and spring semester. Typically teams of three to four students work on each new technology. Students meet once a week and have pitch sessions, but the majority of work is done independently.
Ben Solomon, an adjunct professor at Smith and CEO of Hyperion Technologies, leads the Fed Tech course with other professors on campus. He says that “Entrepreneurs are the best fit for the program — students who really want to start a company.” Typically, the program is popular with part-time MBAs.
One project conducted last fall dealt with a glass microsphere technology invented at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NSWC) Corona Naval Surface Warfare Center. Two part-time MBA students – Matthew DeMay and Avi Edery – paired up with John Howard, a PhD candidate in material science, for the project.
DeMay told the Smith School website,
“The DC I-Corps Fed Tech program is a great opportunity to gain real experience and learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur. As an engineer, it’s given me the experience and understanding about how to approach a start-up opportunity, not by focusing on the technology, but on how to build and develop the value propositions for customers and how to search for and identify the correct customers. These skills are invaluable for any person desiring to start their own business or tackle a start-up opportunity.”