BALTIMORE — A new group will take university research and make it a reality.
Blackbird Labs, an independent, nonprofit research platform, launched on Tuesday with a $100 million grant.
Their goal? Take biotechnology ideas from universities and help turn them into start up companies.
"Baltimore is a great place to do this. Our research institutions are world class. Johns Hopkins has been the top research university in the U.S. for 40 years running, and the University of Maryland is ranked in the top 20. The state of Maryland is now the number one state in the country in terms of federal spending and development. Our goal over the next ten years is to create more than 50 new biotech startups that will raise more than a billion dollars in venture capital, and create thousands of jobs in Baltimore," said Ryland Sumner, president of Point Field Partners.
The grant comes from the Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation.
The money was only part of the launch, the group also announced research collaborations with Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland.
