Request for Applications (RFAs)

Application Guidelines

Version 3 | March 6, 2026

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
    1. Purpose
    2. Eligibility
    3. Intellectual Property
    4. Funding Amount
  2. Application Instructions
    1. How to Apply
    2. Full proposal guidelines
    3. Review Process
      1. Criteria
      2. Scoring
      3. Closing and Award Payments
  3. Project Period
    1. Mid-term Reports
    2. Final Report
    3. Commercialization Plan
  4. Program Information
    1. Appendix A: Budget
    2. Appendix B: Commercialization Plan

Summary

Purpose

The Baltimore Innovation Initiative (“BII”) Program was created to support an equitable innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in institutions of higher education throughout the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As a component of the State of Maryland’s matching contribution toward the Baltimore Tech Hub, the Program seeks to advance technology toward commercialization of a product or service and bolster support systems for entrepreneurs developing technology-based ventures.

The Program will award two grant types: (1) the Technology Advancement Grant and (2) the Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Programming and Infrastructure Grant. This document will outline the details of the Technology Advancement Grant.

Eligibility

Eligible recipients of the Technology Advancement Grant include startups for which a Qualifying Individual holds a senior leadership position (e.g., Founder, Partner, C-Suite) and has an equity stake. Qualifying Individuals include faculty members, staff, or student principal investigators at an Eligible Institution.

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Faculty or staff may be full- or part-time. However, the Qualifying Individual must be employed directly by the Eligible Institution (i.e., those who are solely affiliated by contract are not Qualifying Individuals).

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Eligible Institutions are those named in BII enabling legislation [CH0710/CH0711] who have opted in to the BII program. As of March 6, 2026, the institutions include the following marked in bold: