Governor Moore Announces Nearly $7 Million in ‘Build Our Future’ Grant Awards to Support Innovation Infrastructure Development
ANNAPOLIS, MD — Governor Wes Moore today announced that the Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded 11 grants totaling nearly $7 million through the Build Our Future Grant Program. The recipients represent projects that will support innovation infrastructure development in eligible technology sectors.
The Build Our Future Grant Program—part of the Governor’s Innovation Economy Infrastructure Act of 2023—provides grants of up to $2 million to private companies, nonprofit entities, local governments, as well as colleges and universities. Eligible industry sectors include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, agriculture, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, blue technology, cybersecurity, defense, energy and sustainability, life sciences, quantum, and sensors and robotics.
“Building a stronger, more competitive Maryland economy requires strategic investment in the businesses and industries that will drive growth in the coming years,” said Gov. Moore. “Once again, we’re deploying Build Our Future grants to support advances in clean energy, biotechnology, medtech, aerospace, robotics and more. This is an important part of how Maryland will win the decade.”
After a two-phase application process, the department approved 11 projects for funding:
- Alchemity, LLC – $200,000 to support system development to transform waste biogas (methane and CO2) into sustainable liquid fuels while demonstrating emissions reductions, fuel quality, and operational reliability. (Prince George’s and Cecil counties)
- Blackbird Laboratories – $750,000 to support creation of a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Catalyst Facility, located within Blackbird BioHub, a 35,000 square-foot life sciences wet lab and incubator at the City Garage Science & Technology Center. The 3,000 square-foot facility will enable emerging diagnostic technologies to quickly transition from concepts to reality, thereby rapidly serving patients under the supervision of a licensed CLIA laboratory director in a certified CLIA laboratory. The project is a partnership between Blackbird Laboratories and EPOCH Epigenetics. (Baltimore City)
- BSA Seafood – $546,040 to help establish Maryland’s first purpose-built, multi-species cold storage and value-added seafood processing hub in Easton. (Talbot County)
- CoapTech, Inc. – $477,750 to help establish a local hub to manufacture sterilely packaged medical devices at its LaunchPort location at City Garage; this includes establishing clean room facilities with sterile thermoform equipment. (Baltimore City)
- Colonial Metals, Inc. – $1,000,000 to support a new, 3,000 square-foot building with 1,250 square-feet of new chemical manufacturing wet lab space focusing on precious metal-based organometallic compounds used in technologies (such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals). (Cecil County)
- Intuitive Machines, LLC – $1,000,000 to support expansion of the company's Super Cislunar Robotics Assembly Building (Supa-CRAB) Mechanisms and Robotics Center of Excellence. The project continues a multi-year effort to build an enduring, world-class capability in Maryland to deliver mission-ready mechanism and robotic solutions across a number of cislunar and terrestrial programs and supporting sustained lunar operations. The project will build out additional lab and office space and procure equipment that enables in-house execution of multiple Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T) activities. (Anne Arundel County)
- Longeviti Neuro Solutions, Inc. – $332,430 to help scale-up the company’s ClearFit AI platform – an Acoustic Brain Interface (ABI) design to transform how the brain is imaged, monitored, and treated following neurological intervention. This funding supports investment in advanced systems, expanded manufacturing, and further development of AI infrastructure. (Baltimore City)
- Neurava Inc. – $1,000,000 to establish a first-of-its-kind, 3,500 square-foot innovation lab in Maryland dedicated to the development, testing, and early-scale manufacturing of AI-enabled, soft wearable medical devices with an initial focus on epilepsy and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. (Baltimore City)
- Ten One Aerospace LLC – $200,000 to expand and upgrade an existing laboratory into a comprehensive payload Assembly, Integration, and Test (AI&T) facility, capable of supporting full flight qualification campaigns entirely within Maryland. (Anne Arundel County)
- Theradaptive, Inc. – $464,978 to reshore and scale up a local manufacturing process to enable commercial-scale GMP production of a synthetic bone filler. The project objectives include designing and developing the manufacturing process, producing and analytically characterizing prototype lots at the R&D-scale, and acquiring and setting up manufacturing equipment for commercial-scale GMP manufacturing. (Frederick County)
- University of Maryland, Baltimore – $1,000,000 to establish a center for operational medicine and defense health at UMB as a national resource and execution platform for next-generation capability uniting secure development, live trauma care, military expertise, and rapid transition into a single, standing platform. The center will deliver a 5,000-square-foot SCIF and developmental build, purpose-built to modernize combat casualty care, accelerate readiness, and field lifesaving technologies faster than existing models. (Baltimore City)
These grants support Governor Moore’s mission to fight child poverty and boost economic mobility in the state. Grant applications received additional scoring points for projects located in communities with high concentrations of childhood poverty, as designated by Maryland’s ENOUGHInitiative. Five grant recipients are located in ENOUGH-eligible communities in Baltimore City, with projects receiving a total of $3.5 million in awards.
“Maryland’s capacity for innovation and support for bold, new ideas sets us apart from our peers and competitors,” said Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Harry Coker, Jr. “The new round of Build Our Future grants will not only support individual businesses and organizations, they will help move our entire economy forward.”
Since launching the program, the Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded 32 recipients with nearly $23 million in Build Our Future grant funding. This year’s awards – combined with round one in 2024 and round two in 2025 – support $75.5 million in private investment and an estimated 828 new jobs in Maryland. The recently passed DECADE Act of 2026 includes legislation that transitions the program to the Maryland Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO) beginning July 1.
