After a morning filled with exciting news, meaningful connections and inspirational information, the 2025 Entrepreneur Expo was far from finished. The event, hosted by TEDCO (the Maryland Technology Development Corporation) on October 21, 2025, still held several surprises at the end of the day – including an international fireside chat with four ecosystem influencers.
Featuring MyeongSeon Kim, head of the U.S. East Coast Office, Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC), Kunlun Lien, chairman, APAC Investment and Innovation Development Association TAIWAN (TAIIDA), Eddie Resende, CEO, World Trade Center Institute (WTCI), Troy LeMaile-Stovall, CEO, TEDCO and moderated by David Tohn, CEO, BTS Software Solutions, the hour-long chat dove into how cross-border investments and collaborations can drive growth, foster innovation and strengthen shared interests in economic and technological development across locales.
Examining growth created by FDIs
Maryland’s growing profile, fueled by strong federal research assets and dynamic private-sector growth, makes it uniquely positioned for global engagement. The panelists pointed to several converging reasons why international collaboration is not only timely but essential.
Resende emphasized the importance of foreign direct investments (FDIs) explaining that those in place are currently supporting around 120,000 jobs in the state. Such a number signals the importance of international collaboration in efforts to grow the workforce and ecosystem. By taking the initiative to cultivate more of these opportunities, Resende expressed that more opportunities could open.
In his explanation, Resende pointed to a recent investment from AstraZeneca in a cell therapy manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland that is anticipated to hire thousands of employees.
“It is important to have stability, to be proactive,” he explained. With numerous top scientists, researchers and experts in the region available to work, seeking international collaborations and partnerships would tap into the workforce available, allowing us to create more stickiness, keeping talent in the state.
Why Maryland and TEDCO?
As the conversation continued, it was noted that many of the state’s high-potential sectors—AI, semiconductors, robotics, quantum technology, life sciences—closely mirror areas of focus in both South Korea and Taiwan. These “lighthouse sectors,” as Maryland Governor Wes Moore has coined them, are encompassed under TEDCO’s commitment to identify, invest in and help grow startups in the technology and life sciences sectors. Such a natural alignment provides an avenue for joint innovation and commercialization with international entities. However, this alignment, while essential, is not the only reason TAIIDA and KVIC have agreed to such a collaboration.
“Maryland is such a good place to start your business from day one,” Kim said before continuing to explain that part of this is due to how the state is open to diversity and the government is enthusiastic about supporting startups. And while other areas are also uplifting entrepreneurs, Kim explained that “in Maryland, there is TEDCO, and TEDCO is doing a kind of catalytic role in building startup ecosystems,” a role that is reflected in KVIC and South Korea overall. This mirror makes collaboration with Maryland simpler, Kim explained: “I can easily collaborate with Maryland by collaborating with TEDCO.”
For TAIIDA, there were other factors that came into play. While researching, the company discovered that Maryland is about the same size as Taiwan. This parallel, according to Lien, makes for an easier transition for Taiwanese companies, allowing them to come to a market of a similar size, find stability and grow from there.
However, Lien explained that, more than anything, he felt it was important to align with the people behind the scenes. He was looking for someone who was patient, open to spending the time needed to ensure both parties would find growth but shares values with TAIIDA—qualities that Lien found in LeMaile-Stovall and, by extension, TEDCO. That, along with Maryland’s entrepreneurial nature, he stated, made the collaboration feel like the correct starting point for the country’s expanding market.
International collaboration in action: N5Sensors
As the discussion continued, Tohn explained that, from the responses heard so far, there seems to be an arrow that goes in both directions when thinking about these agreements. This prompted a current example of cross-border collaboration in action.
LeMaile-Stovall explained that the TEDCO portfolio company, N5Sensors, is working with South Korean companies to bring their wildfire early detection device abroad – a collaboration that started before the agreements were made.
N5Sensors has created a device to support early detection of wildfires, and, due to a large portion of the South Korean landscape being forests and mountains, wildfire prevention and detection are concerns that have garnished interest from the country.
This discovery sparked inspiration: “One of the ideas we had while working with MyeongSeon and Kunlun is ‘how do we find those companies that are in South Korea and Taiwan that our companies can have relationships with so [local companies] can help [TEDCO portfolio companies] be introduced to the markets at a much faster pace?” LeMaile-Stovall queried. “And that’s the same for when they come over here – we will be the partner that will get them introduced.”
More to come for lighthouse sector growth
LeMaile-Stovall explained that the four agreements that occurred during the event were just the start. There are plans in place to continue pursuing collaboration with other countries.
Tohn reminded the audience that Baltimore has historically been one of the first “entry point[s] of the world to the U.S.,” so it only makes sense for the state to be expanding connections still, and the search for FDIs and international collaboration is not stopping. The value these agreements bring to Maryland will support more than just TEDCO’s portfolio companies – it will support Maryland’s lighthouse sectors and overall growth .
“I fundamentally believe that if we could just get 10% of our portfolio companies in Maryland accelerated faster than the national average in their sector, the rest of the country and the world will take notes and there’ll be an increase to the other 90% in value,” LeMaile-Stovall explained, thinking about the broader impact these collaborations could have. “We will intentionally look for opportunities that will amplify those lighthouse sectors.”
A shared vision for global growth
The final question posed to the panel asked each panelist: what are the most ambitious but plausible visions for these collaborations?
From hoping for diversified suppliers and markets in Taiwan, to KVIC creating a successful platform with TEDCO that can be replicated to encourage continued growth, to even an anticipation for growing the quantum sector in Maryland – the panelists’ answers remained centered on growth, collaboration and innovation.
“Our vision is that in the next 3-5 years S. Korea and Taiwan will anchor an APEC corridor,” LeMaile-Stovall explained, describing the bidirectional impact it would have in supporting all locales involved. “We need to start to think about this in a global way… it’s a market that needs to be addressed, and how we can stimulate that market… that’s the vision, that we start to think differently about what a market means, not just about what you’re selling here in Maryland, but what you’re selling to the world.”
Source: Baltimore Business Journal