November 22, 2006

Rocket marketing competition features startup business ideas, technology transfer class reports on new research lab inventions

(Columbia, MD) - The public is invited to join investors, business leaders, research scientists and others on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 to experience and celebrate entrepreneurial achievements from Howard Community College (HCC) students, 7-9 p.m. in the Kittleman Room of the English, Languages, Business building (ELB-100) on campus.  In a judged "Rocket Marketing" competition, students race the clock to succinctly and persuasively pitch their startup business ideas.  In another event, student teams from a new technology assessment class report on marketplace potential for several new inventions from government-supported research labs.  The entrepreneurial  student showcase is co-sponsored by the college's Technology Assessment Program (TAP), funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and HCC's Center for Entrepreneurial and Business Excellence (CEBE).

HCC is a lead organizational partner in the TAP program that developed the new HCC entrepreneurial course "Technology Transfer from Invention to Marketplace."   The course debuted this fall with over 20 students with a diversity of life experience, from high school students of grant partner Howard County Public School System,  to  post-graduate degree-holders, to an HCC student's father (who enjoyed it so much his own father plans to enroll in the spring 2007 course).  The four student teams from the class partnered with research labs of John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL), NASA's Goddard, and U.S.D.A. to research and report on commercial viability of several inventions - from improved frying batter to spacecraft thermal controls.

The "Rocket Marketing" competition debuted last spring semester with over a dozen students pitching innovative business plans, and in many cases attracting clients or investors, including an HCC student entrepreneur that went on to place in the Greater Baltimore Technology Council's "Mosh Pit" competition for a biodiesel production plan.

The evening includes light refreshments, networking opportunities, and a tour of the CEBE business space.  For more information contact either CEBE Director Betty Noble at 410-772-4111 or TAP Associate Project Manager Lev Volynskiy at 410-772-4431.