The Johns Hopkins Private Equity & Venture Capital Club kicked off the programming season with Dave Greenwald, Director of Business Development and Corporate Partnerships at the Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV) on March 3, 2016 at the Carey Business School. The topic was “Entrepreneurship and the Commercialization of Technology.”

The Johns Hopkins University has a renewed commitment to nurturing the entrepreneur and innovation ecosystem within the Hopkins community and to Baltimore. To this end, JHTV plays an integral role in the university’s vision to commercialize the groundbreaking research. In FY2015, JHTV has made significant progress as it supported the development of new startup companies and facilitated new patent issuance.

Source: Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures

JHTV facilitates the commercialization of Johns Hopkins-related discoveries into accessible technologies, products and services. Dave highlighted the measures taken by JHTV in three areas: 1) creating space for entrepreneurs; 2) providing funding to support entrepreneurs; and 3) proving training, mentorship and access to corporate partnerships for entrepreneurs.

FastForward is the incubator work space for startup companies and it provides resources to entrepreneurs such as networking events, access to subject matter experts and access to funding sources. FastForward will be opening a new location at the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins located in East Baltimore.

In terms of funding sources, Dave highlighted the numerous funds such as the Ralph O’Connor Undergraduate Fund, Louis B. Thalheimer Translational Seed Fund and the various grants programs available such as the Maryland Innovation Initiative and I-Corps program for startup training.

To support entrepreneurs, JHTV established a Mentors in Residence program in 2015 where seasoned professionals work with students, faculty and JHTV staff to bring subject matter expertise to help accelerate the development of technologies and path towards commercialization.

To learn more about how JHTV, visit their website at http://ventures.jhu.edu