As CEO of a Maryland-based defense and intelligence technology firm, I spend a lot of time visiting other technology ecosystems and asking myself, "Why are they performing better than Maryland?" To borrow from Gov. Wes Moore, they decided to win, built a strategy around their strengths and aligned their policy environment to support it. For years, Maryland has had the strengths without the strategy. Gov. Moore’s "lighthouse industry" initiative is a serious attempt to change that.
The governor’s executive order in 2024 and the Department of Commerce’s "Winning the Decade" roadmap focus Maryland on three lighthouse sectors — life sciences, IT, and aerospace and defense — as well as emerging areas like quantum, computational biology, and position, navigation, and timing (PNT). For those of us who operate at the intersection of national security and commercial technology, this list is not arbitrary; it reads like a blueprint for the industries that will define both American competitiveness and American security for the next generation.
A critical insight driving the strategy: these are “dual-use” industries, meaning the same technologies that protect national security also power commercial growth. Quantum computing technology developed to protect classified communications will revolutionize drug discovery, financial modeling and logistics. Cybersecurity expertise built to defend the NSA’s networks secures the banking system and the electric grid. AI systems trained on defense applications find their way into hospitals, supply chains and manufacturing floors.
Maryland already sits at the center of this dual-use economy with the NSA, DARPA, NIH, the U.S. Cyber Command and a constellation of federal laboratories calling the state home. The lighthouse strategy is a deliberate effort to leverage that concentration of national security infrastructure into a commercial technology economy that can stand on its own. Done right, it is strategic for one simple reason: it begins to wean Maryland off its dangerous overdependence on federal dollars. When the same expertise serves both government and commercial markets, a federal budget cut becomes an afterthought, not a catastrophe.
This initiative is already attracting investments and opportunities. Gov. Moore’s first international trade mission took him to Japan and South Korea, where he met with Toyota, Hitachi, Samsung and Korean Aerospace Industries — not to sell Maryland crabs, but to sell Maryland’s life sciences, IT, and aerospace and defense capabilities. That trip, and the sustained outreach it represents, is already paying dividends. AstraZeneca has committed to investing $2 billion in Frederick and Gaithersburg — the largest private capital investment in the state in a decade. Samsung Biologics established a presence in Rockville. Through TEDCO, the state secured a $50 million commitment with Taiwanese investors targeting AI, deep tech, robotics, and biotechnology and a $6.5 million investment from South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund, Korean Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC). And DARPA and Microsoft have joined as partners in the governor’s $1 billion Capital of Quantum Initiative.
This is not charity. Venture capitalists, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds do not commit billions of dollars to a state out of civic goodwill. They commit because they see a credible strategy, a deep talent pool, world-class research institutions, and a government that is actively removing friction from investment. When that capital flows in, it creates a virtuous spiral: investment attracts talent, talent spawns startups and spinouts, spinouts attract more capital, and the entire ecosystem expands, generating jobs, tax revenues, and economic activity that is largely independent of what happens inside the Beltway. That is the sustainable antidote to Maryland’s structural deficit problem.
The third dimension of this strategy, and perhaps the most important for Maryland’s technology companies, is what I would call building an “unfair advantage.” Maryland companies do not compete only against each other; we are competing against 49 other states and, frankly, much of the world. Let’s be honest about the arena we’re fighting in. Other states compete like it’s a knife fight — aggressive subsidies, purpose-built innovation corridors, and a relentless recruitment of talent and headquarters.
Maryland cannot just set our companies up for a fair fight — we want an unfair advantage. The Lighthouse strategy, when combined with the full arsenal of Maryland’s state-backed innovation infrastructure, can help set those winning conditions. TEDCO, the state’s economic engine for early-stage technology companies, provides seed capital, executive mentorship, and ecosystem connections that help Maryland startups survive the gap between a promising idea and commercial scale. MEDCO brings infrastructure muscle, helping identify and ready commercial and industrial sites before a company even asks. The Maryland Technology Council mobilizes the private sector, convening industry, academia, and government in a way that no single entity can replicate. And the new DECADE Act of 2026 sharpens the Department of Commerce’s focus on programs with the highest return on investment. Together, these are not a bureaucratic support network — it’s a coordinated strike force, helping Maryland companies outgun our better-resourced competitors on a national and international stage.
All strategies, including this one, will have issues and challenges that must be addressed. The most glaring challenge is the state’s current fiscal posture and the overhang from federal decisions. Uncertainty like this does not allow businesses to effectively plan for growth. But the adage “no pain, no gain,” is appropriate as we seek to build a plan that can sustain the test of time.
The lighthouse industry initiative, at its core, is a clear and actionable strategy for how Maryland transforms its greatest historical asset — proximity to the federal government and its national security apparatus — into a durable, commercially driven economy. The question is whether we will have the discipline and the alignment to see it through. With it, our companies can join the fight with every advantage Maryland can offer — both fair and unfair.