Idea Factory · University of Maryland

Where 
ideas
get built.

The E. A. Fernandez Idea Factory building, sunlight flaring off its tiled facade and colored-glass window wall
Who we are
Est. 1983 · College Park

We are not a think tank.
We are not a lecture hall.
We are where ideas get built.

Students become entrepreneurs. Faculty research finds its way to market. Innovators across Maryland test and validate their ideas, refining them until they're ready for the real world.

Startups get built. Maryland companies access the intellectual firepower they need to grow. For more than forty years, this is where the state's best ideas have gone to work.

One factory. Four stages.

01
Blueprint

Where you learn to think like a builder.

02
Proving Ground

Where ideas get tested against the real world.

03
Assembly Line

Where companies get built.

04
Scale-Up

Where they grow and take off.

The E. A. Fernandez Idea Factory at dusk, its colored-glass window wall lit magenta above the entrance stair and signageThe E. A. Fernandez Idea Factory at dusk, its colored-glass window wall lit magenta above the entrance stair and signage

One place.
Every stage.

Start here
Four doors

Find your way in.

Student, faculty, researcher, company, or partner — whoever you are, there's a door here for you. Pick yours.

$94.8B
Economic impact since 1983
18,992
Jobs created
72,000+
Students supported

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