With 2022 coming to an end, we want to take a moment to express our appreciation for TEDCO’s tremendous community. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration, for your endless efforts to create a more innovative and diverse entrepreneurial community in Maryland, and for helping us meet the challenges of 2022, ending the year stronger than ever.

A few notable initiatives and programs to celebrate in 2022 include:

As part of our commitment to accountability, TEDCO launched an initiative to expand and elevate our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. This expansion included launching a new DEI webpage, creating a TEDCO diversity rider and updating company registration processes.

The new diversity rider serves as a call-to-action, focused on increasing opportunities and access to venture capital wealth for under-represented communities. Meanwhile, our updated company registration process allows TEDCO to collect race and ethnicity data that will then be used to plan and prioritize program creation and modifications with the goal of creating a more fair and equitable system for all of Maryland.

With these essential tools in place, TEDCO can track our progress, identify trends, and make appropriate changes to improve our practices while holding ourselves accountable. 

As part of our commitment to creating a diverse, innovation ecosystem in Maryland, TEDCO successfully launched The Leading Women’s Program and The Open Institute for Black Women Entrepreneur Excellence. These programs seek to ensure that Maryland’s inclusive leadership innovation economy continues to grow and improve.

Through these two programs, two cohorts of women entrepreneurs are getting opportunities to collaborate, expand their networks, and discover new resources to help them navigate the local innovation ecosystem.

For more information about MII and the program’s success over the past decade, check out our 2022 annual report.

TEDCO received funds from the United States Treasury Department’s SSBCI; these funds were allocated into four existing programs that target supporting technology-based Maryland businesses and entrepreneurs. Three of the four programs focus primarily on startup funding and venture capital; the fourth program provides support and investment to entrepreneurs demonstrating an economic or social disadvantage.

The additional funding and support provided by the SSBCI allows TEDCO to continue our efforts in creating a diverse and innovative ecosystem throughout the State of Maryland.

Another huge success for 2022 was the implementation of our very first tech fair for underserved entrepreneurs. The creation of this tech fair was inspired by TEDCO’s commitment to creating a more inclusive economy, providing underrepresented entrepreneurs and startups with resources from major tech companies including advertising techniques, cloud services, trainings, and more. 

Through our continued commitment to collaboration, TEDCO created the virtual series TEDCO Talks. This series connects with industry leaders throughout the State, engaging in a variety of topics to provide entrepreneurs and startups with more knowledge and resources to elevate their business’ success. Individuals featured in this year’s “fireside chat” style talks include:

The staff and board of TEDCO are committed to supporting a robust and a more diverse technology and life science innovation ecosystem in Maryland. As a result, you can expect to see TEDCO taking initiative, creating new programs, and exploring new endeavors to bring about the diverse, thriving innovation market that builds on our state’s many strengths.

We are grateful for all you do to support Maryland innovators, and we look forward to working with you in the new year to achieve even more.

Be safe, merry, and relaxed this holiday season,

All of us on the TEDCO team