Abstract:

Introduction:
Technology transfer into the private sector is a congressionally mandated priority for the more than 400 USA federal laboratories, over 70 of which are located in, or immediately adjacent to, our State of Maryland. These labs, plus Maryland's many other public and private labs which contract to the federal government represent a tremendous reservoir of TT potential which is still in the early stages of being tapped. The current national emphasis on federal technology transfer is particularly cogent to the state of Maryland The Lab-to-Market Program

We at the University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business (UB) saw an opportunity for professional graduate business, engineering, liberal arts, and law schools nationally and, more particularly locally, to exploit the under-utilization of federal lab and private research lab TT to the benefit of our economies as well as to that of our students' education's. We particularly believe that entrepreneurship and innovation in this area hold many of the keys to revitalization of the state of Maryland as well as the nation.

Specifically, in 1993, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) and UB initiated the "Lab to Market" project, for which we obtained a $2M grant under the Technology Reinvestment Project, a joint federal program sponsored by five federal agencies and funded by Congress. Although the grant expired in 1996, the program has now become self-supporting. In 1998 the program became joint with our sister campus, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In 1999, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) approved the program’s offering a Post-graduate Certificate in Technology Commercialization in Maryland. Through the auspices of UB and UMBC, this program is open to qualified business, law, liberal arts, engineering, and science graduate students in Maryland public and private institutions of graduate education. The purpose of the program is to commercialize federal, university, and private lab technology while at the same time educating professional graduate students in high tech entrepreneurship. To accomplish these goals, the project uses course-work to match teams of interested professional graduate students with technologies emerging from such laboratories.

The M.S. Degree in Innovation Management and Technology Commercialization

The infrastructure for the "Lab to Market" project is in place and has been functioning for two decades. The UB faculty teaching in this area has obtained considerable previous teaching experience with technology transfer fieldwork and in attendant related team-based course-work. UB, UMBC, and the others involved believe that the project will continue to result in benefits to the state of Maryland as well as the participating labs in terms of both technology commercialization and of graduate professional education.

The Merrick School of Business recognizes that in order to continue to be a school at the cutting-edge of graduate business education, new programs must be introduced that are innovative, consistent with the school’s mission and strategic goals and broaden the learning experiences for our students. It is also important that these programs respond to the needs of the regional, national and global marketplace and add value to our students.

Keywords:

Experiential Learning, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Graduate Academic Programs.