This summer when Governor Larry Hogan announced that Elta North America, an Israeli owned defense manufacturer, was opening a Cyber Innovation Center in Maryland, Barry Bogage couldn’t have been more pleased. As he stood near the Governor he knew that it was his tireless behind-the-scenes efforts as the executive director of the Maryland/Israel Development Center (MIDC)* that proved pivotal to this Maryland business success.
Elta was just the first cybersecurity announcement in a busy summer for MIDC. In a little more than a week, Electronic Technology Associates (ETA) and Cyberbit, the cybersecurity spinoff of Israeli defense contractor Elbit would announce it was opening Baltimore Cyber Range. This first hands-on cybersecurity training center will train professionals through threat simulations; it is located in Spark Baltimore, near the Inner Harbor.
As Maryland makes efforts to become, as Governor Hogan would like to see, the “cyber capital of America,” MIDC has become a valuable resource. With Israel, a dominant player in the cybersecurity market – second only to the United States – MIDC’s relationships will prove invaluable to this initiative.
Both the Elta and the Cyberbit deals were finalized and announced last fall, during the Governor’s trade mission to Israel. That mission, organized by the MIDC, played a key role toward finalizing many of the details. According to Bogage, that even included suggesting to the Governor to include David Cordish in his meeting with Cyberbit, which spurred the company’s decision to locate in downtown Baltimore.
Cyberbit’s CEO Bruce Specter made a point to “thank Barry Bogage of the Maryland/Israel Development Center for his invaluable assistance getting the Baltimore Cyber Range off the ground,” pointing to the fact that Barry and MIDC introduced their company and Elbit to Governor Hogan.
Elta, meanwhile, one of Israel’s leading defense contractors and the manufacturer of the radar systems for the Iron Dome, first committed to locating its North American headquarters in the state in 2012, thanks to the efforts of MIDC. Then when Elta began thinking about establishing its cybersecurity innovation center in the United States, MIDC began cultivating the company and bringing in the Governor and his staff. Click to read entire article.
