Many students who graduate with a Ph.D. in the sciences continue their training for a few years by working in a lab as a postdoctoral fellow (or “postdoc”) under the mentorship of a more senior scientist. There are between 40,000 and 50,000 postdocs in the U.S. and approximately 10% of these individuals work in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area at universities and federal labs such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The hope for many of these postdocs is to pursue a career in academia, a federal lab, or as a staff scientist working for a company. A new program starting in early 2010 will encourage and train postdocs to consider an alternative career path – as an entrepreneur forming their own company to commercialize some of their own discoveries or those from other federal laboratories.

The new program, called “ACTiVATE® at NIH”, will be a yearlong training and support program focused on starting companies based on early-stage technologies developed at the NIH and other federal labs in the region. Postdocs and other individuals from the business community who want to partner with a scientist to start a company will be recruited for the program. The ACTiVATE® model pairs these individuals – one scientist and one business person – and asks the team to select either a pre-screened technology or the scientist's own technology to serve as a project for the program. Through weekly lectures and the practical experience of working on their projects, the team will learn how to evaluate the technology, develop a business plan, and actually start a company. The applied learning process will be conducted in a supportive environment led by a team of experienced instructors who have started their own technology-based companies and others from the business community who will serve as project advisors and guest lecturers. The goal of the program is to form new companies in Montgomery County and to retain in the state some of the very talented postdocs after they complete their fellowships in area laboratories.

The new ACTiVATE® program starting in January is modeled after the ACTiVATE® program that is currently in its fifth year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The UMBC program, which is focused on training women to start companies using university technologies, has already led to the formation of over 25 companies and more are expected in 2009. UMBC hopes to expand its success in the region with the new ACTiVATE® program focused on postdocs, both men and women. UMBC has partnered with Johns Hopkins University's (JHU) Carey Business School to deliver the new program at the JHU Montgomery County Campus.

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