The Crossland Ballroom of The Hotel at the University of Maryland was transformed into a launchpad on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, as TEDCO opened its most ambitious Entrepreneur Expo to date. Every seat was filled with the architects of Maryland's economic future: an assembly of founders, investors and innovators. TEDCO CEO Troy LeMaile-Stovall, facilitating the morning's pivotal session, captured the electrifying atmosphere, proudly announcing, "This is the largest expo ever."
With opening remarks from TEDCO Board Chair Ellen Flowers-Fields and feature addresses from UMD President Darryll Pines and IonQ CEO Niccolo de Massi, the keynote was a resounding declaration: Maryland is not just participating in the global tech conversation—it is leading the next revolution.
The core message resonating across the room was the concept of a synchronized innovation engine, fueled by academic supremacy and strategic capital, creating powerful successes that grow Maryland’s innovation economy and expand globally via strategic partnerships.
The Anchor of the Ecosystem: UMD – Where Discovery Takes Flight
The journey began with an essential foundation: the University of Maryland (UMD). President Darryll Pines articulated a vision of intellectual velocity. He spotlighted the university’s ranking as the #16 public university in the U.S. and, critically, #8 nationally in patent awards—metrics that prove research is migrating from the whiteboard directly to the marketplace.
The physical heart of this synergy is Maryland’s Discovery District, a deliberate and thriving collision zone where scientific breakthrough meets commercial strategy. “We know that nothing happens in our state, in isolation,” said Pines, “We must keep building and expanding a robust ecosystem where we all grow, learn and innovate together.” This mindset ensures that groundbreaking, deep-tech research transforms into viable market reality.
This foundation has already yielded a powerhouse of modern legends, showcasing the depth of Terrapin talent across sectors. President Pines cited alumni successes spanning retail, food tech and scalable enterprise.
A prime example of this success feeding the next generation is Truebill. The inspiring narrative of three UMD Computer Science alumni brothers who built a consumer lifeline into a $1.25 billion acquisition demonstrates this cyclical commitment: the founders immediately channeled capital back into the community by establishing The Mokhtarzada Hatchery to fund and mentor the next cohort of UMD “enTERPreneurs.”
This is the indelible Maryland promise: success is a cyclical commitment, where every monumental achievement plants the vital seeds of capital and wisdom for the next generation of founders.
To every founder in the audience, President Pines delivered a timeless charge, urging them toward the relentless pursuit of scale and success: "Keep dreaming. Keep working. Keep innovating."
TEDCO’s Strategic Role: Igniting Equitech and Global Growth
TEDCO stands as the unwavering force translating ambitious intent into economic infrastructure. The organization’s commitment to inclusive growth was powerfully demonstrated by the Equitech Growth Fund. Flowers-Fields announced the substantial and precise second-round awards: $4,314,926.80 deployed across initiatives from nine organizations who, according to Flowers-Fields, “Have demonstrated a commitment to strengthening our infrastructure, developing our workforce and driving equitable growth around the state.”
- Salisbury University
- Consult Lemonade
- Code in the Schools
- BioBuzz Networks, Inc.
- Energetics Technology Center
- Maryland Center for Construction Education
- Rise Therapeutics
- Xcellon Biologics
- Bright Wave Partners, LLC
Beyond supporting startups, TEDCO is preparing the "rocket fuel" that will launch Maryland's equitable innovation economy onto the global stage.
IonQ: The Quantum Internet and the Trillion-Dollar Opportunity
The undeniable focal point of the morning was the fireside chat, a compelling dialogue between Troy LeMaile-Stovall and IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi. They charted the explosive growth of IonQ—a UMD lab spin-off from 2015 that became the first pure-play quantum computing company to IPO in 2021, now boasting a market capitalization exceeding $20 billion. De Massi highlighted the revolutionary technical achievement of securing “four nines” (99.99%) fidelity on a key quantum gate, a microscopic victory essential for macroscopic, fault-tolerant change.
de Masi articulated the company's visionary endpoint: the Quantum Internet. “You're going to move from this classical world to a fully quantum one where our quantum sensors are able to capture information and we're able to transfer that information to our quantum networks in a tangled state securely, and we're able to process that information on our computers.”
This is a fully interconnected ecosystem where quantum sensors feed precise data into quantum networks, secured against all threats, for processing by unimaginably powerful quantum computers. With a predicted trillion-dollar market on the line, IonQ is leading the state in applications that will redefine pharmaceuticals, defense, and sustainability.
IonQ is proving that the future is the reality we are building, qubit by qubit, right here in Maryland. As de Masi summarized, “it is happening right now in the background in every single vertical of applied science.”
Final Wisdom for Founders: Speed, Talent, and Quantum Value
Niccolo de Masi ended the session with a masterclass for the next wave of founders, urging the audience to bypass the complexity of the quantum hardware and focus on where the generational value is truly captured: the applications layer. “The majority of the value that comes in these revolutions is from applications that are created that no one thinks about ahead of time.”
He provided clear, actionable wisdom from IonQ’s path to scale: be ruthless in securing an A-plus team, prioritize speed to market to seize early advantage, and master the subtle diplomacy required to scale a creative venture into a global enterprise. “Entrepreneurs make the mistake of not realizing that the team has to evolve first. If you want to move the business forward, try to invest in the team. You can have the team that will get you to the next level.”
The ultimate lesson remains: In every technological revolution, the boldest dreams are realized not in the infrastructure, but in the hands of the visionary who chooses to build the application. In a final call to action, de Masi urged attendees to join the revolution now, saying, “This is an inflection point. I encourage the university and everyone in the state to grab it with both hands.”
Source: Baltimore Business Journal