Volume 3 | October 23, 2019
Save the date! December 4th TechTalk After Hours
TechPort UAS Business Incubator Interim Director Julie Lenzer and F3Tech Accelerators Director Mike Thielke will be hosting  Aaron Ault  from Purdue University for a presentation on Open Source Data in Agriculture and the related importance of the growing drone/ UAS tech industry in Southern Maryland for TechPort’s TechTalks After Hours on Wednesday, December 4, 2019, from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. Ault is a farmer and faculty member at Purdue and is one of the leads in the  OATS Center (Open Ag Technology and Systems) . A favorite speaker for past F³ Tech Symposiums, Ault hopes to advance the topic of open source data in agriculture throughout Maryland and encourage some in Maryland to collaborate in the working being done at the OATS Center, particularly given the high level of GIS and cybertech expertise in Maryland.

Aaron Ault and the Purdue team at OATS note that m any of the most promising avenues for sustainable food-ag system improvements involve novel applications of sensing, networking, and computation to big data science, visualization, and analytics . Powerful data sets and models continue to be developed at the plot, watershed, and even regional level from these research efforts. However, there are fundamental issues impeding progress in data-driven sustainability and preventing translation of research into practice. They believe these issues are solvable by open source  data and algorithm exchange paradigms. Ault and his team believe data exchange among systems, people, and projects is the  most critical component  for achieving  data-driven sustainability  goals.
Join us for this exciting discussion and networking in the TechPort Hangar!
For more information on the new TechPort TechTalk After Hours series, check our website events page.
Check the TechPort website for monthly schedule!
Looking for an opportunity to learn from a fellow successful entrepreneur? Curious about TechPort? Seeking opportunities to network with fellow innovators? November 21, from 4-6 PM , Join TechPort Interim Director Julie Lenzer for a Fireside Chat with TechPort advisory board member Paul Ausley, local entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of TerraView360, Inc.

AEPLOG is TechPort Featured Client of the Month - October 2019
An unmanned, autonomous container that moves like an 18-wheel truck at sea and on land is one of TechPort’s newest projects. Led by Dr. James Whang, co-founder, chairman and president of AEPLOG (Advanced Engineering, Planning, Logistics), Sea Trucks is a perfect fit for the entrepreneurial consultancy offered by TechPort.

Whang brought the invention to TechPort about a year ago, seeking the opportunities to connect this technology with those best suited to utilize it. “We are way beyond the R&D stage,” Whang says his company has already spent close to $9 million and has conducted more than 1,000 sea trials of full-scale 20-foot electric and 40-foot diesel Sea Trucks on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. “TechPort will help us penetrate the Navy end-user communities.” The TechPort Entreprenuers in Residence (EIRs) will be working with Sea Truck on this endeavor.

“TechPort, brings the expertise to target the right investor, the right way, and while we can’t guarantee investment, we have the expertise to avoid the many pitfalls,” Julie Lenzer, Acting Director and Chief Innovation Officer for the University of Maryland says.

Sea Trucks can be marketed both commercially and for defense systems. The intermodal container boxes are approved and governed by the International Standard Organization (ISO) of the United Nations, which makes them certified to move timely and efficiently by truck, railcar and air.

“And it’s cheap,” Whang says, citing the cost to move a 20-foot ISO container box full of payloads by a container ship from Los Angeles to Tokyo on Sea Trucks at about $200. “Nobody can beat that price!” 

The TechPort InventorMuscle meetup group is starting back up! Stay tuned for details.
Interested? Contact TechPort at [email protected] for more information on fall programming.
From the Director's Desk :
Exciting things continue to happen here at the TechPort UAS Business Incubator as we kick off our fall program. Our monthly newsletter is our way of keeping stakeholders, investors, inventors and the Southern Maryland community up to speed on what we’re doing here at TechPort – think of it as a window inside our world. It is our hope that this window will connect us all as we seek to match investors and inventors and move ideas to the market place. 

The schedule promises excitement and energy as our EIRs and TechPort community partners assist us in accelerating our start-ups for the fall opportunities to meet investors and connecting with potential customers!
Look for us at the St. Mary’s County Public School System’s STEM EXPO 2019 later this month, and join us at TEDCO’s Entrepreneur EXPO and check out our new fall series of tech talks scheduled for after work - intended to be insightful unique opportunities to mix with successful entrepreneurs in the Southern Maryland ecosystem.
 
Make sure you don’t miss the Airport Innovation District Master Plan Update discussion released in early October. We are excited to play a role in growing this vision for St. Mary’s future. Join us on a Walking Tour Thursday, Oct 24 th  to get a close up view of the new and future assets at the St Mary’s County Regional Airport .. REGISTER for Airport Business Walk :   https://smcedw.eventbrite.com

Please join us at one or more of these great events to meet our innovators!

From the Director's Desk is a new feature. Check here each month for remarks by TechPort on hot topics in the tech client and investor community. Have a suggestion for a discussion topic? Let us know! Email: [email protected] .
Industry News
Did you know that TechPort is located in the St. Mary's County Innovation District? Visit this link to learn more: https://www.stmarysmd.com/ded/innovationdistrict/

Join TechPort in supporting the Maryland STEM Festival and Expo, Saturday, October 26, 2019 at the St. Mary's Fairgrounds. Details here

STOP BY our exhibit booth at the TEDCO Entrepreneur Expo on October 29, 2019. For more info, visit TEDCO to PITCH.NETWORK.LEARN. BE INSPIRED.
Save the date for our next TeckTalk AfterHours on November 21. For more information, visit our website.

Hi-Tech Bourbon Event

On Sep 26, TechPort hosted the local Bourbon Distillery (Tobacco Barn Distillery) and Nalls Aviation (Art Nalls). They are collaborating on a “one of a kind” aviation/distillery event where they will fly eight wooden barrels (15 gallon size) in specially reconfigured external tanks on an AV-8B Harrier Jet. 

This collaboration is meant to highlight the high technology in the TechPort ecosystem as well as the historic agricultural society in which it developed. 

Art Nalls will be the test pilot of the event and while he thinks barrels have been flown aboard military aircraft previously (most surreptitiously!) he thinks this will be the first time it’s been done under the auspices of the distillery who made the product.
“700 MPH” Bourbon is scheduled to be flown in April 2020 at St Mary’s County Airport in Art Nalls’ AV-8 Harrier. It is a fundraising event for Semper Fi - a Veteran charity, and the TechPort event raised funds for the charity. Both Nalls Aviation and Tobacco Barn Distillery are veteran-owned small businesses (VOSB). 
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