Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

At the start of 2022, a group of start-up ecosystem leaders in Baltimore wanted to find a way to elevate student entrepreneurship in the region with a low barrier to entry, according to this article in Technical.ly.

That aim materialized with the new Pava LaPere Innovation Acceleration Grant Program, which will allocate $50,000 to each of nine student-founded businesses in the Baltimore metropolitan statistical area and host a showcase early next year. The pilot is made possible by $500,000 from the State of Maryland. It is named after the late Co-Founder of EcoMap Technologies, a local start-up and entrepreneur who helped establish much of Johns Hopkins University’s student entrepreneurship infrastructure before her 2023 death.

The vision for the program evolved over a few years, per Josh Ambrose, Director at the Johns Hopkins-affiliated Pava Center and one of the program’s core leaders. But the overall mission has stayed the same, he said.

“We want to find young start-ups that are committed to building this,” Ambrose told Technical.ly. “And we want to do everything we can to celebrate their success here in Maryland, and especially in Baltimore.”

Ambrose emphasized that this is not an accelerator program or a pitch competition. Instead, student ventures from across universities and community colleges in the region can now submit applications to their individual schools for a chance to eventually participate in a student showcase this coming February. Each will receive $50,000 of non-dilutive funding, plus coaching ahead of the showcase. The additional $50,000 from the state allocation will go toward running the event, Ambrose said.

The funds come directly from the Pava LaPere Innovation Act and are administered by Maryland-founded TEDCO and ecosystem nonprofit UpSurge Baltimore.

---