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Floraponics is a woman-owned, organic, sustainable cut flower farm revolutionizing floriculture via aquaponics, providing high-quality, long-lasting blooms to florists, floral designers, and the consumer. They are the only farm growing dahlias and lisianthus, two of the most highly sought-after varieties, in an aquaponic greenhouse in the world! The US floral industry is dominated by imported flowers, grown in South America predominantly, and with little to no regulation of how the flowers are grown. As a result, the overall industry is highly pollutive and carbon emission-heavy. In addition, many flower varieties don’t ship well and the quality of the product is poor, if not outright unusable. Florists and Floral designers especially are desperately in need of a higher quality floral product that aligns with their desire to help the environment and the domestic flower farmer. Floraponics addresses this urgent need by producing the greenest, highest quality, local flowers that elevate florists and floral designers’ work. Florists, floral designers, and the consumer have come to accept that imported flowers purchased either via wholesalers or at local flower shops or grocery stores must be of lower quality, cost more (due to excessive waste), and don’t last long in a vase. Floraponics addresses this problem by providing the freshest possible product, often being cut the same day or day before they are sold, transported a short distance to the customer, and very few if any, stems are wasted. Sarah Daken, majority owner, President, and Co-Founder is a practicing attorney who has 20-plus years of litigation experience. She is an expert at sales and marketing, business development, and customer relationship management. Tom Precht is a Ph.D.-trained neuroscientist with 10 years of sales experience and 8 years of research experience. He is the technical expert managing the aquaponics technology development, engineering solutions to the flower growing systems, and implementing plant growth optimization.

  JJ Innovative Materials aims to reduce carbon footprint in the construction industry by using carbon-negative materials. This venture has developed prototypes for drywall and wall tiles that are 95% made of sustainable ingredients or recycled by-products of existing industries like industrial hemp, pumice powder, hydrated lime, and fly ash. 

JJ Innovative Materials uses these sustainable materials in a process that does not require heating or cooling or any additional toxic chemical additives for fire/mold resistance, reducing the environmental footprint of industrial production. Overall, JJ Innovative Materials claims to have made a carbon-negative construction material that sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for each product they make.

CEO Taein D. Lee founded JJ InnovativeMaterials, has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Materials Science Engineering, and has published 10+ research journals on micro/nanoengineering techniques to control material properties. 

Director of Compliance Chu Ding has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Civil Engineering and is a licensed structural engineer and LEED Green Associate. He has worked for 3 years in structural engineering consulting and uses his experience to ensure regulatory compliance and provide a more applied perspective.

Director of Manufacturing Mark Wo has a B.S. from Johns Hopkins University in Materials Science Engineering; he boasts 5 years of experience in DIY contracting, 10+renovation projects, and real estate management. He works on day-to-day R&D operations and prepares the product for manufacturing.

The venture is currently operating in Baltimore and is finding a manufacturing site to develop its manufacturing technology. 

Metallic Luxury is a sustainable community development company - created to initiate the chain of generational wealth with foreclosure prevention education through homeownership. To meet the evolving needs of housing we have an opportunity to disrupt the market with modular homes, climate resilient features, and crisis budgeting. We're committed to creating buy-in for all buyers being priced out of home ownership. Follow our journey to revitalize Baltimore's housing market!

Randi Williams is a modern facilitator that challenges corporate spaces to keep community in mind - currently serving as an Environmental Health Officer Consultant. She's an eight-year public policy professional that previously developed programs and products to comply with regulatory systems for implementation. She volunteers at urban farms in West Baltimore with a dream of owning one. 

She has an education in traditional public policy and a background in insurance, community development, and public health projects, centered around improving internal policies and programs - starting her PhD in Architecture, Urbanism, and Built Environments at Morgan State University. Her services have awarded her multiple Board Member positions for Smalltimore Homes, The LeadHership Project, and The Maryland Comptroller’s Women Economic Empowerment Council. To that end, she is ready for the new challenge of building Baltimore's first Modular Container Community.

Loop Closing lowers the cost and environmental and socioeconomic impact of food waste disposal through a regenerative on-site composting solution that replaces dumpsters and hauling. Our service helps hospitality, academic, grocery and commercial food service customers recover their portion of the $11 billion Americans spend on food waste disposal every year. Loop Closing’s Jeffrey Neal, PE received 11 awards for meritorious service during a career solving the US Navy operations and infrastructure problems and leading change, holds engineering degrees from Stanford and UC Berkeley, and receives support as an Echoing Green Fellow 2018, Bethesda Green Resident, and Soros Equality Fellow 2023.

Jeffrey Neal is the Founder and CEO of Loop Closing. Before starting Loop Closing, Jeffrey Neal served a 24-year career leading change and solving our most challenging operations and infrastructure problems for our US Navy and Marine Corps Bases around the world.

 Ratnesh Tiwari is co-founder and CEO of NextGlass. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and B.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He worked for companies like Larsen and Toubro Limited, ADNOC and University of Maryland before joining NextGlass. He has received several research grant awards from the Organizations like NSF, DOE and ARPA-E. NextGlass is developing a novel process to fabricate low-cost vacuum insulated glass (VIG) windows that are five times more insulating than regular dual pane windows and are as insulating as walls. Traditional VIGs are manufactured at high temperatures using costly equipment, making them unaffordable. NextGlass has developed a low-temperature fabrication process that reduces VIG cost by 80%, bringing it to a similar cost range as double and triple-pane windows, facilitating economical replacement. Upon widespread implementation, this VIG technology has the potential to annually save up to $42 billion in energy bills and reduce 3% of total US energy and 140 million tons of annual CO2 emissions.  

 Redhelm Labs is revolutionizing the drone industry with its innovative wireless long-range in-flight recharging technology powered by laser. This groundbreaking solution eliminates the need for risky manual battery swaps during flights and significantly reduces dependence on gas-powered drones. Currently, Redhelm Labs is backed by a DARPA SBIR Phase 1 contract and has successfully completed the MEIA Pre-accelerator, further validating its potential in the market.Redhelm Labs was founded by Neil Sorkin, a graduate of the University of Maryland with a major in Computer Science and a concentration in Statistics; Neil has a robust background in machine learning and computer vision. Neil's previous experiences include impactful roles at the US Naval Research Lab, Reinventing Geospatial Inc., and AT&T, where he developed key technological innovations. An active participant in industry conferences and academic collaborations, Neil continuously seeks to push the boundaries of UAV efficiency and safety in operational environments. He envisions a future where power beaming safely liberates us from the constraints of wired power. This vision reflects his commitment to enhancing human capabilities and driving technological advancement.