Vote: Here’s who made the shortlist for the 2025 Technical.ly Awards in Maryland

Let’s be honest: 2025 has been a year of ups and downs, especially on the federal front.

Shifting priorities, budget uncertainties and policy surprises are keeping the tech and innovation community on its toes. Add in uncertain economic conditions and a rocky VC landscape, and the ecosystem has weathered a lot.

Despite it all, we’ve been tracking major wins in the scene, and it’s time to honor the people, companies, organizations and projects behind them.

We compiled the nominees from a mix of your submissions, prior coverage and outside research. It’s our first year honoring people and products across Maryland — not just Baltimore — and we’d love your support in uplifting the innovation ecosystem all over the state. 

The deadline to vote is Nov. 30, and we’ll announce the winners in early December. 

Learn about the nominees below and submit your vote here. 

Product of the Year

The technology product, service or upgrade in your ecosystem this year that had the most impact, either locally or globally.  

• Myya’s post-mastectomy bras: Founder Jasmine Jones snagged the top prize at Baltimore Homecoming’s Crab Tank pitch in September, winning over judges with her bra brand designed for cancer survivors.
• Whisker Labs’ Ting sensor: In addition to its new free app that tracks power outages nationwide, the Germantown-based company is also using data from its fire-detection sensor network to help investigators better understand the causes of January’s Los Angeles wildfires.
• Storytime AI: The edtech platform generates personalized stories tailored to each student’s age and reading level. This fall, the startup launched its first classroom pilots for its web-based product.
• RightHear: This accessibility tool uses an app that provides audio instructions to guide people through unfamiliar spaces. It’s already deployed in more than 2,500 locations worldwide and, in June, expanded to its first pro sports venue in Houston. 

Programming of the Year

The activation, program or event that made the most difference in the local innovation community this year.

• TEDCO’s Entrepreneur Expo: The state’s venture capital arm hosted its last annual entrepreneurship gathering in October, featuring workshops, panels and a pitch competition. 
• Maryland Student Venture Showcase: Nine student ventures from colleges around the Baltimore metro area presented at the showcase in February. Funded through the Pava LaPere Legacy of Innovation Act of 2024, the awardees each won $50,000 to support their business. 
• MICA’s Creative Entrepreneurship Social Innovation Conference: Maryland’s historic art school hosted its first creative entrepreneurship conference in October, showcasing its entrepreneurship courses and teaching art students how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to their work.
• CodeWorks Summer Program: Students are paid to learn how to code and explore other tech careers at CodeWorks’ five-week summer program. 

Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year

The newcomer — who started their entrepreneurship journey within the past 2 years — making the biggest splash, whether locally, regionally or globally.

• Samuel Bendek: Bendek’s battery technology company, Elastic Energy, won a Pava LaPere Innovation Award this year. He launched the venture with his sister and is studying engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
• Devin Jackson: The Baltimore digital equity leader founded his nonprofit, A Prosperous Tomorrow, in 2023 after a career in marketing. The organization offers digital skills training across the city for older adults and people looking to break into the tech field.
• Logan Cundiff: The former Venture for America fellow launched Props in 2024, a gamified platform to improve engagement at events. 
• Selena Shirkin: This recent graduate began developing her surgical-device company, Fetal Therapy Technologies, while she was a student at Johns Hopkins. Her startup was recently selected as a finalist for the Agora Initiative’s female founder showcase. 

Thought Leader of the Year

The person who changed the most minds, inspired the most conversation or added the most knowledge to your ecosystem this year.

• Lo Smith: Smith started the year as executive director of the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition but announced their departure in September amid nonprofit funding struggles. They’ll remain in the role until December and will continue to support the organization part-time.
• Molly Sherman: The executive director of the Carroll Technology and Innovation Council teaches the local community about artificial intelligence and leads initiatives on workforce development and technology adoption in rural areas.
• Chrissy Thornton: Thornton leads Associated Black Charities, where she drives efforts to close Maryland’s racial wealth gap through programs that target systemic inequities in housing, education, health care, employment and more. 
• Angie McCarthy: As lawmakers and residents debate expanding data centers in the state, the Maryland conservation advocate at environmental org Nature Forward provides a key voice for sustainable development.

Power Move of the Year

The strategic move that made the most difference to the local ecosystem.

• Passing the Maryland tech tax: In an effort to address Maryland’s steep budget deficit, Gov. Wes Moore passed the 3% tech tax on IT, data and software publishing services, triggering an outcry among tech leaders. It went into effect on July 1. 
• Entrepreneurial American Girl doll launch: Proud Marylander and dog walking business founder Summer McKinny served the honored post as doll of the year in 2025. 
• GBC/UpSurge merger: The traditional economic development organization brought the startup ecosystem builder under its umbrella this year. 
• 4MLK building opening: Baltimore gained a new hub for life sciences development with the opening of the $180 million, 250,000-square-foot building in January, which provides office and lab space for biotech companies. 

Money Move of the Year

The financial transaction that made the biggest difference in the local ecosystem.

• X-energy’s $779M mega deal: Maryland hit its highest quarterly venture capital total in over a decade in Q3, thanks to a massive deal from a Rockville-based nuclear energy company. 
• MacKenzie Scott’s $63M donation to Morgan State: In October, the philanthropist gave her second unrestricted gift in five years to the state’s largest HBCU, bringing her total contributions to the university to $103 million. 
• State quantum investment: Maryland is betting big on quantum. In January, Gov. Moore announced the Capital of Quantum Initiative, a public-private partnership that aims to put $1 billion in combined state, private and matching federal funds toward the quantum industry over the next five years. 
• Federal funding and staff cuts: Research institutions and government employees nationwide have felt the impact of the Trump administration’s deep funding cuts, but Maryland has been hit especially hard, with the highest number of federal job losses of any state and significant strain on its prominent biotech sector.