BioHealth Innovation, Inc.
Location |
Rockville, Maryland |
|---|---|
Project Name |
Expansion of the Venture Commercialization Model (V-COMM) to build out technology development and entrepreneurial practices around strategic focus areas within the biohealth industry of Maryland |
Program |
i6 |
Award Amount |
$495,000 for expansion of the Venture Commercialization Model (V-COMM) |
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a nonprofit public-private partnership serving Central Maryland supports the progression of early stage biohealth technologies and companies from research to commercialization. Maryland is home to a unique combination of government assets, university research, and industry making significant contributions to the global biohealth industry. BHI’s many partnerships are aimed supporting the capacity of Central Maryland’s biohealth regional innovation cluster. Among BHI’s private-sector contributors are MedImmune, Roche, Emergent Biosolutions, Qiagen, Becton Dickinson, and Adventist Healthcare, venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and SR One, as well as the large research institutions of Johns Hopkins University and the University System of Maryland.
BHI’s Venture Commercialization Model is focused on harvesting assets in the forms of technologies and ideas from the sources of research, intellectual property and the entrepreneurial community at-large. BHI’s vertically integrated V-COMM team lead by Entrepreneurs-In Residence, Associates, and Analysts actively advise new startup companies that form as a result of our harvesting activities. The team supports through analyzing technology for commercial relevance and conducting market research but then takes an active role in the company by building partnerships and supporting the early-stage execution. The end result is to continue to build a pipeline of viable early-stage companies that have the capability to transition from the research phase to the development phase.
The project will allow our team to conduct reviews of more technologies, spur the development of new companies from the technology, create connectivity throughout our regional industry cluster around new opportunities, raise capital, and overall provide a unique growth opportunity for early stage businesses. Impact will demonstrated through the increased capacity for deal sourcing, due diligence, company formation, capital raising, and achievement of company milestones and the measurable economic benefit affiliated with creating these opportunities.