Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Technology Commercialization

As a leading research institute, the University of Maryland is on the cutting edge of emerging technologies. In a partnership designed to realize the full potential of $545 million in sponsored research undertaken by our faculty and staff, The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship has partnered with the Clark School of Engineering’s Mtech Program and the Office of Technology Commercialization to create the Technology Transfer program.

The program’s goal is to fully explore business applications for new technologies through a rigorous review process. We start each academic year with 130 technology disclosures from across the University of Maryland system. From that group, 30 are chosen as candidates for the review process based on commercialization potential. The next step is a presentation to our Tech Transfer Committee, which meets monthly and is made up of the following experts:

Venture capitalists & members of the Dingman Center Angels investor network
Technical experts
Entrepreneurs
Key members of Mtech and OTC operations
Dingman Center senior staff and Entrepreneurs in Residence

At the same time, Smith School MBA students are active in the technology commercialization program, providing for a rich learning experience in understanding and assessing business fundamentals. A major component of that experience involves a spring semester course in Technology Commercialization taught by Associate Professor Brent Goldfarb. Technologies are chosen from fall screenings and then developed into businesses by graduate students from the Smith School of Business, as well as engineering and computer science students. In one success from the inaugural class, nanotechnology developed by UMD faculty received a $200,000 investment from Lockheed Martin in spring 2011.

Through the Tech Transfer process, University of Maryland programs provide significant support.

To learn more about the Tech Transfer process, and programs to get involved in, please click here.

Tech Transfer is an integral part of the University of Maryland’s strategic plan through its contribution to the number of ventures created within the university community while also bringing together top talent from a range of academic programs.