Frederick, Maryland, distinguishes itself as a premier destination for life science companies by fostering a highly collaborative economic development environment, hosting major biopharma anchor institutions, and actively investing in a local biotech workforce pipeline.

Companies that have relocated to Frederick, Maryland from California, overseas, and across the Mid-Atlantic tend to share a similar observation once they arrive: the city’s economic development team does not hand you a welcome packet and disappear. They show up to meetings, make introductions, and stay engaged through the hard parts of getting a business established in a new place.

Mary Ford-Naill, Economic Development Manager for the City of Frederick, was at the 2025 TEDCO Expo representing that culture. In a conversation at the event, she talked through what Frederick has built in life sciences, how it approaches workforce development, and what has made the city a destination for biotech companies looking to establish or expand in the Mid-Atlantic region.

What Frederick Has Built

Frederick is home to more than 130 bioscience companies. The anchor institutions are well-known: AstraZeneca operates its primary global biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Frederick, with nearly $2 billion invested in the local community and more than 700 employees. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Lonza, and Kite Pharma, which operates a 279,000-square-foot biologics manufacturing facility, are also among the major employers. Fort Detrick, the federal biodefense campus at the center of the city, generates an $11.2 billion economic impact on the state of Maryland and supports nearly 30,000 jobs. The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, affiliated with the National Cancer Institute, sits within city limits as well.

Ford-Naill was straightforward about what this concentration represents. “We have some of the large players,” she said, “but we’re also watching companies grow out of our incubator program into mid-level companies that are going to be really successful.” That pipeline runs through the Frederick Innovative Technology Center (FITCI), the city’s primary incubator and accelerator, which in 2024 opened an expanded state-of-the-art facility and launched the Maryland Global Gateway Soft Landing Program, a pathway for international companies to establish U.S. operations in Frederick.

Workforce as the First Question

Ford-Naill said the question that comes up first in nearly every conversation with a company considering Frederick is talent. Where is the workforce? The city’s answer has two parts.

The first is geography. Situated 45 miles from both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Frederick can draw from a regional labor pool of nearly three million people across multiple states. About 44.9 percent of Frederick County’s adult population holds at least a bachelor’s degree, above the Maryland average. Maryland as a whole ranks second in the country for the percentage of biological scientists in its workforce.

The second is active investment in building that pipeline locally. The City of Frederick’s Economic Development office runs a free biotech boot camp in partnership with industry employers. Students complete the program and interview directly with companies, giving people without a traditional biotech background a structured entry point into the sector. Frederick Community College offers bioprocessing technology programs and apprenticeships designed around the needs of employers like Kite Pharma and Thermo Fisher. Hood College, home to the Bioscience Research and Education Center, supports applied research and entrepreneurial training, and has developed programming to help reskill displaced federal scientists.

“We partnered with our industry leaders and asked: how do we develop that next talent base?” Ford-Naill said. “At the end of the boot camp program, students are able to interview with companies and hopefully gain employment in biotech.”

Rowing in the Same Direction

Ford-Naill was direct about what she thinks distinguishes Frederick’s approach to economic development. The city, county, and state partners are not operating in parallel silos. They attend the same meetings, work toward the same goals, and present a unified front to companies navigating permits, incentives, and introductions.

“We work very collaboratively with city, county, and state partner organizations,” she said. “We are at the meetings together, we are listening together, we’re all rowing in the same direction. I think that’s kind of unique to Frederick.”

That collaborative posture extends to TEDCO. Ford-Naill has worked alongside TEDCO programs for years, and the two organizations’ relationship was formalized further in 2024 with the launch of the Federal Lab Leveraging Innovation to Products (FLLIP) Pilot Program, a joint TEDCO-FITCI initiative designed to connect small businesses with federal labs, with a specific focus on socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs in Maryland.

Source: BioBuzz