Incubators partner to boost tech startups
BYLINE: Sue Schultz
A city-funded technology incubator in East Baltimore will join forces with the developer of a biopark in West Baltimore to lure more early-stage companies to the city.
Wexford Science + Technology, developer of the UMB Biopark, inked a deal Thursday with the Emerging Technology Center, also known as ETC.
Under the agreement, ETC would provide business mentoring and incubation support services to future tenants at the UMB Biopark's, 8,500 square-foot BioInnovation Center, a short-term lease incubator space. In exchange, the developer would promote ETC services to its future tenants, and offer ETC companies lab space in the biopark.
Emerging Technology Centers are home to 58 companies in Canton and on 33rd Street at the site of the former Eastern High School. The companies, most of them fledgling technology startups, exchange small equity stakes for taxpayer-subsidized office space and business development assistance. City incubator companies have landed more than $145 million in funding and have been issued nearly 200 patents.
New tenants are expected to move into the incubator space at UMB BioPark next month. Gliknik Inc., a Baltimore-based biotechnology company, leased space in the incubator in January.
Last month, the UMB BioPark received $1 million from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation to support the new incubator site. The 10-year, no interest loan was also matched by UMB's BioPark developer.