- October 05, 2026
- By Eric Schurr
The University of Maryland has rebranded and expanded its Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech), a nationally recognized hub for entrepreneurship and innovation education and venture creation, under a new name: the Idea Factory.
Mtech has for more than four decades brought university research to market and had a $94.8 billion impact on Maryland's economy, with a focus on industry collaboration and fostering technology commercialization. The shift to the Idea Factory captures the institute’s broader role as a catalyst and support for innovation, entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary problem-solving across the university and beyond.
It will build on already-successful programs with plans to offer more mentoring, space and capital to startups, as well as more opportunities for faculty and students to engage in innovation.
“Technology is moving faster,” said William Bentley, outgoing director of Mtech and current director of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, said at a renaming event on Thursday. “Industries are changing. New ideas are emerging from our labs, classrooms, companies and communities every day. Our goal is to create the environment where those ideas get built."
The Idea Factory includes programs such as Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS), the University I-Corps Program, Mtech Ventures and xFoundry. It is now headquartered in the E. A. Fernandez IDEA Factory, amplifying the building’s role as a hub for entrepreneurship.
Bentley introduced Don DeVoe, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as the Idea Factory’s inaugural director. He holds affiliate faculty appointments in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and is a Fischell Institute fellow.
DeVoe’s research interests target the development of microfluidic systems for applications in clinical diagnostics, cancer immunology, nanomedicine and aerovirology. His work has been supported by federal agencies and industry partners, and he has supervised more than 35 doctoral students. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, and is an inventor on eight U.S. patents.
In 2000, DeVoe co-founded Calibrant Biosystems, a biomarker discovery company leveraging technology licensed from UMD. He later founded Io Scientific to commercialize active nanomaterials developed in his lab for enhanced protein analysis by mass spectrometry. He has also served as PI on seven projects supported by MIPS.
“We have a vision to transform innovation at this university,” said DeVoe. “Imagine a Fearless Innovation Hub with dedicated technical incubator space, new opportunities for faculty to move lab discoveries to the marketplace, an angel syndicate to fund Maryland companies and keep them here, a universitywide mentoring program, externships that put faculty inside companies, and initiatives that place both undergraduate and graduate students into companies for hands-on product development. We hope you will consider joining us on this journey.”