Maryland and Israel are joining together to launch MarketReach America™, a binational program to train business executives from Israeli medical technology startups on U.S. market entry.

As part of the program, run by the Maryland/Israel Development Center (MIDC), the participants will travel to Maryland to meet potential customers and leading medical institutions to receive training on how to interact with key federal research and regulatory agencies. The program is being jointly funded by the MIDC, Maryland Department of Commerce, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the Israel Innovation Authority, with a grant from the Abell Foundation.

Between 15-20 Israeli startups from the medical device and digital health sectors will be recruited through a competitive application process whose selection committee will include the MIDC, Maryland Commerce, the Israel Innovation Authority, and program manager Robert Storey of Baltimore, a certified National Science Foundation “I-Corps” (Innovation Corps) instructor who will deliver the training.

Once selected, the delegation of Israeli entrepreneurs will travel to Maryland for a two-week “customer discover” program, which includes meeting potential customers, distributors, technology experts and key industry opinion leaders. They will receive training on working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Woodlawn for regulatory approval, as well as with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda for research collaboration. The University of Maryland, Baltimore, will assist the companies with access to university expertise relevant to the companies’ technologies.

With the feedback from those meetings, the entrepreneurs will return to Israel to complete their product development and then reconnect with the potential customers for initial U.S. market entry and sales, with the goal of opening an office in Maryland. The top three participating companies will be awarded one-year free office space in the University of Maryland, Baltimore BioPark in Baltimore City.

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