TEDCO’s $58.5 million fiscal 2025 allowance includes new Baltimore-focused programs and SBIR match request

The Education, Business and Administration Subcommittee heard that the fiscal 2025 operating allowance for the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is $58,500,000, an analyst said. Elizabeth Bridal, the committee analyst, told members most of the appropriation is general fund money with about $4.6 million in federal funds and that the Department of Legislative Services recommends concurrence with the governor’s allowance.

Bridal said the allowance includes $20.5 million for stem cell research, roughly the same level as the last two years, and that social-impact investments account for about 23 percent of TEDCO’s budget. That category includes a $7.5 million minority pre-seed (builder) fund and a $5 million Equitec Growth Fund, she said.

Troy Lommel Stovall, TEDCO’s CEO, outlined several programmatic additions in the governor’s proposal. He described the PAVA LePair Innovation Act, which would create a student-focused APAVA fund to award nine $50,000 prizes to student entrepreneurs in the Baltimore metropolitan statistical area. Stovall said the Baltimore Innovation Initiative proposed in the bill would expand participation beyond the five research institutions currently served by the Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII).

Stovall said Baltimore has been designated one of 30 national tech hubs and that a coalition including the Greater Baltimore Committee and TEDCO plans to submit a planning proposal for a $70 million program that requires a $7 million local match, part of which would flow through TEDCO. The governor’s budget request also seeks $1 million intended to support Tech Hub activities and projects tied to the planning effort.

The governor’s proposal would make a multi-year commitment to Upsurge’s Uprise effort, with TEDCO initially passing $840,000 through to Upsurge to help assemble resources and training for entrepreneurs, Stovall said. He also reiterated a commitment to the Equitec Growth Fund at $5 million in fiscal 2025, with TEDCO allocating at least $2.5 million of that toward Baltimore-area match and commitments.

Stovall emphasized a push to match federal SBIR/STTR awards, a common practice in about 20 other states. The governor proposes $1.8 million for SBIR-related efforts in TEDCO’s budget, including $1.3 million for matching SBIR awards and $500,000 to scale TEDCO’s SBIR lab, which Stovall described as one of the nation’s strongest.

No formal vote or action was taken during the hearing excerpt. Several of the proposed programs are contingent on legislation, Bridal said, and DBM has advised that contingency language for two items could be removed in a future supplemental budget.