Maryland Companies

When it made landfall in North Carolina, Hurricane Irene cut stretches of the Outer Banks off from the mainland. Now a Maryland company is working to restore access to the barrier islands. Mabey Bridge & Shore Inc. in Elkridge is shipping sections of a bridge that will form a temporary span over the largest breach along North Carolina Highway 12, the road that connects the majority of the Outer Banks to the mainland. The storm in late August caused several breaches along the highway, cutting off Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

Gov. Martin O'Malley is planning to lead a trade mission to India, he said Tuesday, in what would be his second international trip this year. O'Malley said the purpose of the trip is jobs and that he hopes to go "before the year's end. " "We're working on it," O'Malley said. "We promote the competitive strengths of Maryland. " He listed life sciences, biotech, information technology and health care as those strengths. India is Maryland's 12th-largest trading partner, and the state is host to branch offices for five Indian companies, according to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

The Maryland/Israel Development Center sees itself as a matchmaker — not of a romantic kind but an economic one. For the past 19 years, the nonprofit group in Baltimore has been connecting Maryland companies with Israeli partners to promote trade and investments. Most recently, MIDC helped secure funding for two Maryland companies to do business with Israeli firms through the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation. Direct Dimensions is a 3-D imaging technology firm in Owings Mills and Ariadne is a biotech software company in Rockville.

Today, furniture from all over the world is easy and often inexpensive to come by, but there remains a demand for quality furnishings made by hand. Maryland is home to dozens of businesses producing hand-crafted, often one-of-a-kind furniture, mirrors, lighting and other items for the local market and beyond. So we're turning the spotlight on some of the Maryland companies that produce top-quality furnishings for the home. Some are small shops, consisting only of one or two people crafting custom pieces for clients with specific needs.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. said Tuesday that it has awarded nearly $1.13 million in funds to 15 Maryland start-ups. The companies received $75,000 each from TEDCO's Maryland Technology Transfer and Commercialization Fund, a program designed to bring technology into the marketplace. The 15 start-ups that received funds include: AccuStrata, Inc.; Applied Plasma Science, LLC; Branchpoint Technologies, LLC; Combined Technology Solutions, LLC; Creatv Microtech, Inc.; EncephRX, Inc.; Euveda Biosciences, Inc.; Fuzbien Technology Institute, Inc.; GM Biosciences, Inc.; OmniSpeech, LLC; OptiCul Diagnostics, Inc.; SemaConnect, Inc.; TreeMiner, Inc.; Video Semantics, LLC and VisiSonics Corporation.

Maryland companies and the state have secured deals with Chinese firms worth more than $45 million, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Thursday during his 10-day economic development mission to Asia. Tasly Group, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, plans to invest $40 million for a plant in Montgomery County, which would be the largest investment in Maryland by a Chinese firm, according to the state. Tasly plans to open a 430,000-square-foot plant and training center for traditional Chinese medicine in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center.

Amid last year's epic debates over the health care overhaul and proposed Wall Street regulations, Maryland farmers and environmentalists were engaged in their own dramatic — and often expensive — battle over restoring the Chesapeake Bay. A bill that would have reinforced the federal government's ability to manage the bay cleanup triggered a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign by farmers who opposed it. Environmentalists who supported the...

As Molotov cocktails, rocks and gunshots filled the streets of Cairo last week, executives at ARINC Inc. in Annapolis fixed on their employees' safety and getting them out of Egypt. The company, which outfitted Cairo's international terminal with electronics systems and maintains U.S. Air Force jets there, decided Thursday after days of anti-government protests and clashes to pull employees, contractors and their families out. It was a harrowing time — there and here. "This is what we've been living and breathing 24/7," said Alice Lao, ARINC'S director of international human resources.

Many consumers now think "buy local" when it comes to food, or in choosing to shop at small local storefronts as opposed to national big-box chains. But how about buying local when it comes to technology purchases, especially around the holidays? In honor of Cyber Monday, BaltTech compiled a list of products — hardware, software, accessories and games — that originate in Maryland, and could make for holiday gifts. Your dollars also would help to support Maryland's technology entrepreneurs and businesses.