TEDCO’s Entrepreneur Expo to Host “Industry Perspective on an Innovation Ecosystem” Panel

Session will feature leaders from the Maryland Department of Transportation and Whiting-Turner, moderated by Maryland Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Mary Kane

COLUMBIA, Md., (October 16, 2026) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announces the “Industry Perspective on an Innovation Ecosystem” session at the upcoming 2026 Entrepreneur Expo taking place at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor on October 27, 2026.

The session will bring together Ellen Fish, of Atlantic Union Bank; Percy Dangerfield, assistant secretary of administration at the Maryland Department of Transportation, which oversees a workforce of roughly 10,000 across the State’s transportation agencies; Jonathan Hess, senior vice president of The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, the Baltimore-based firm founded in 1909 and among the largest employee-owned general contractors in the country; and Paul Sharkey, CEO of Mid-Atlantic, Employer & Individual UnitedHealth Group where he drives growth and ensures quality service for nearly three million members — for a conversation moderated by Mary Kane, president and CEO of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. 

“Maryland has tremendous strengths in research, innovation and talent, but we need to do more to translate those advantages into businesses that grow, jobs that are created and investment that stays here,” said Kane. “Our larger employers can be important customers, partners and investors for emerging companies, yet their perspectives aren't always part of the conversation about Maryland's innovation ecosystem. This panel is an opportunity to better understand what they need, what stands in the way of stronger connections and how we can work together to turn more of Maryland's innovation into long-term economic growth.”

Conversations about innovation ecosystems tend to be held among the people who build them: founders, investors, universities and the organizations that support them. This session takes a different vantage point and asks what large, established organizations need from an ecosystem and what would bring more of them into it. Maryland has substantial research capacity across its universities, federal laboratories and start-ups. This panel will explore what portion of that capacity industry can actually reach and what stands in the way.

Panelists will discuss how their organizations engage with Maryland’s innovation ecosystem today, what would enable deeper engagement and where technology and innovation can drive job growth in the State. The discussion will also address what value large organizations want to draw from the research underway at universities, federal laboratories and early-stage companies, how procurement and contracting shape that relationship, and how that value can be made easier to access.

Maryland offers unusual density on the supply side of that equation. The U.S. National Science Foundation reports that federal obligations for research and development to performers in California and Maryland together account for nearly 27% of all such funding across the states, with $17 billion directed to Maryland. The State also hosts more than 78 federal laboratories, including the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, according to the Maryland Department of Commerce’s Guide to Tech Transfer in Maryland. Connecting that research base to the organizations positioned to buy, scale and commercialize its output is the practical challenge this panel addresses.

TEDCO’s award-winning Entrepreneur Expo shines a spotlight on regional entrepreneurship. Attracting more than 1,170 attendees, the event collects some of the region’s top entrepreneurs, business owners, innovators, venture capital investors, legislators and resources for a day of celebration. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the region’s top experts; secure your spot at this impactful event now at tedcomdexpo.com/event/2026/register.