| It
takes a visionary to recognize a visionary,
and from his very first visit to UMBC’s
campus, Dr. Robert W. Deutsch was hooked.
At a point in life when many of his peers
are in leisurely retirement, Deutsch—already
head of RWD Technologies, a successful international
technology services company—saw his
future linked with UMBC.
By
1999, when UMBC broke ground on a research
park, Deutsch already had signed on to be
the park’s first tenant, and the RWD
Applied Technology
Laboratory (ATL) opened its doors at the
new bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology
Park in 2001. “When we began planning
the ATL several years ago, I decided that
the laboratory should be associated with
a university,” says Deutsch, who holds
a Ph.D. in physics from the University of
California at Berkeley. “I wanted
our employees to be exposed to the exciting,
cutting-edge ideas that are generated by
a university’s faculty and its students,”
he adds—exactly what UMBC envisioned
when planning a research park. David Yager,
distinguished professor of visual arts and
founder of UMBC’s renowned Imaging
Research Center, helped Deutsch launch this
new venture, serving as the ATL’s
first director.
Anchored
by the RWD Applied Technology Laboratory,
which focuses on Web-based learning and
business solutions, bwtech@UMBC is positioned
to become a major center of research and
technology development in the Greater Baltimore
region. The companies it attracts will have
access to UMBC’s academic resources,
while at the same time helping the University
advance its research mission and attract
top talent. When complete, bwtech@UMBC will
have five buildings with a dozen established,
profitable businesses as tenants and about
1,200 total employees. UMBC’s partner
in developing bwtech@UMBC is Grosvenor International,
one of the largest private real estate companies
in the world.
Through
innovative partnerships with companies such
as RWD Technologies and Grosvenor International,
UMBC is putting the knowledge and expertise
of its faculty and students to work for
the State’s economy.
For
more information on bwtech@UMBC, please
go to www.bwtechumbc.com.
|
