Accelerators, Incubators, and Ecosystems

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At Towson University, in Baltimore County, 8 miles north of Baltimore City’s Inner Harbor, we run a high quality business incubator program called TU Incubator. We are currently supporting ~20 companies, ~50% of which are in-residence (flex space or private office), ~50% are virtual. This mix is quite purposeful, as we have a smaller footprint co-mingled and leveraging three other business units in the Division of Innovation and Applied Research whose collaborative strengths encompass continuing education, event coordination, economic and business analysis, GIS, marketing, partnerships, and workforce training. Our current incubator foci are 1) edtech and 2) support, one an institutionally aligned, vertical focus, the other horizontal, across everything that we do. We are sincere and transparent about our two foci and are increasingly integrated with our university community. The average program stay for a member is two years but the experience is personalized, of many different shapes and sizes.

The one thing we are NOT is an accelerator, although we endeavor to experiment with immersive experiences and partner with those that have high quality accelerator programming. This summer, we are partnering with Village Capital to bring part of their 2016 education cohort to Baltimore as part of another important milestone for Baltimore EdTech. We, at TU Incubator, believe that accelerators are valuable, if the shoe fits, but they are never enough as a stand alone support system and can be disruptive and expensive to founders when they are not a good fit. 

Two of our TU Incubator members recently immersed themselves in high quality accelerator programs outside of Baltimore. Lessoncast joined Dreamit’s most recent edtech cohort and Alchemy Learning delved into Techstars Boulder. The hope for these founders is that respective programs will catalyze company scale readiness in product, marketing and sales, business development, team, and capital. More often than not, this happens. We also hope and believe that they will return to the continuous support of TU Incubator and allow us to help them continue to build a company and a life in greater Baltimore.

Image source: https://foundtheworld.com/sahara-desert/

According to the Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA), we have over 25 incubators in the State. They serve all manner of entrepreneur, with all manner of support, from the generalist, thriving hubs at Betamore and ETC, to the more industry focused hubs at Johns Hopkins (FastForward, healthcare), Towson University (TU Incubator, edtech), and UMBC (bwtech, cyber security). However, the Baltimore-Washington corridor is a desert for accelerators, particularly nationally-renowned ones. DC had The Fort and Launchbox Digital but suffered a wind down or relocation, respectively. I had enjoyed attending demo days on both counts. There is Acceleprise, focused on enterprise SaaS, but the accelerator has expanded to the Valley and waned in momentum in DC, where the accelerator was founded. As Maryland’s first (and only) accelerator, there is Accelerate Baltimore, housed at the ETC with an annual small, generalist cohort. There was Dreamit Health, whose industry focused accelerator program is now being taken over by Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures; that is a good thing for Baltimore. As mentioned above, there will be a slice of Village Capital’s 2016 education cohort in Baltimore in July in partnership with us at TU Incubator and Dreamit is looking to the region to perhaps host a future education cohort. Maybe, for a small or medium-sized metro such as Baltimore, the buy (partner) vs build option is a good way to go?

Life is too short for long term grudges.? —?Elon Musk

Frank Bonsal III has over twenty-five years' experience advancing efficacy, innovation and productivity in and around education and the knowledge economy. As the first Director of Entrepreneurship at Towson University, pioneering edtech investor, and K-12 and university educator, Frank has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and learners reach for their dreams.

Engage with Frank on LinkedIn and Twitter -- and via FrankBonsal.com.