Loh Supports Maryland Innovation Initiative

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Governor Martin O'Malley's Maryland Innovation Initiative represents an important means of stimulating economic development and high-tech jobs, says University of Maryland President Wallace Loh.

The plan, Loh says, can help transform the state's educational and research assets into a "turbo-charged economic engine." In a Baltimore Sun op-ed, Loh describes the Innovation Initiative as an important means of transforming academic research into commercial enterprises.

UMD President Wallace Loh inspects advanced solar panel array in College Park. For higher resolution, click on image.

"Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed Maryland Innovation Initiative offers a significant advance to our state's tech-based economic development," Loh writes. "It commits $6 million to boost commercialization of university research and creates incentives for statewide collaborations that will strengthen our high-tech sector."

In Turning research into jobs in Maryland, Loh embraces O'Malley's InvestMaryland plan, which uses tax incentives to add $70 million to the state's venture capital fund, giving "vital support to start-up firms."

Loh's piece in the Sun lays out a prescription for stimulating technology commercialization in Maryland. "Across industries and between institutions, we need improved coordination and collaboration, suffused by an ethos of innovation and entrepreneurship," Loh explains. "A phased increase in resources and a unity of purpose will improve our state's technology transfer and commercialization."

The complete op-ed is available online: http://ter.ps/ck

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