On Monday, July 24, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) and the University of Maryland (UMD) hosted Congressman Glenn Ivey (D-MD), along with local entrepreneurs, engineers, venture capitalists, and intellectual property experts, for a roundtable discussion on ways Prince George’s County can further develop as an innovation hub and how Congress can support American entrepreneurship more generally.
The roundtable — which consisted of two panel discussions led by C4IP Co-Chair David Kappos and UMD Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Vice President for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development Dr. Dean Chang — touched on vital topics such as the roles of the public and private sectors in supporting research and commercialization opportunities; how intellectual property protections support investment in high-tech sectors; and how American society embraces failure in a way that drives innovation forward.
Distinguished panelists included:
- Rep. Glenn Ivey: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland’s 4th district; former State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County (2002-2011)
- David Kappos: Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office from 2009 to 2013 and Co-Chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion
- Dean Chang: Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Vice President for Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development at the University of Maryland
- Bob Nye: General Partner at JMI Equity, a growth investment firm focused on software companies and a top venture capitalist in the mid-Atlantic region
- David Iannucci: President and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, which oversees the County’s $50 million Economic Development Incentive Fund
- Husein Sharaf: Founder and CEO of Microsoft Gold Partner firm Cloudforce
- Charles Grody: University of Maryland graduate and CEO and Founder of Hydraze, UMD’s Do Good Challenge (2019) and Pitch Dingman Competition (2022) winner
- Anaum Khan: Rising senior studying Computer Science at the University of Maryland, Co-founder of Learn Prompting, a platform that teaches people how to use AI, and Engineering Fellow at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm that specializes in investing in incubation, early-stage, and growth companies
Prior to the roundtable, participants and attendees received a tour of the E.A. Fernandez IDEA (Innovate, Design and Engineer for America) Factory, where University of Maryland undergraduate students presented their ongoing research projects. Projects ranged from a robot able to sense and adjust to its terrain and autonomous scooters, to submarines promoting sustainable agriculture.
