Morgan State University, which was officially designated as Maryland’s preeminent public urban research university in May 2017, has gained its first technology transfer licensing contract.

“This is a major milestone for Morgan State University,” said Victor McCrary, MSU’s vice president for Research and Economic Development.

“It is appropriate that we celebrate Morgan’s leap into its second 150 years with its first technology transfer contract. And we do so with technology that provides economic impact for Maryland’s agricultural community and benefits to Maryland’s environment,” McCrary said.

The technology development activities are led by professor and laboratory director Seong Lee, and his research staff in the Center for Advanced Energy Systems and Environmental Control Technologies in the School of Engineering at Morgan.

Cykloburn Technologies, a Baltimore City startup founded in 2017, is focused on bringing to market the  “poultry waste-to-energy” technology licensed from Morgan State University. Cykloburn Technologies recently received a $150,000 investment from the TEDCO Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) to commercialize the innovation.

“We are pleased to partner with Morgan State University to bring this potentially game-changing technology to market,” says Rob Meissner, CEO of Cykloburn Technologies. “This technology addresses a significant environment(al) concern, improves farmers’ profitability and will be attractive to poultry farmers across the country.”

The technology addresses two big societal needs: managing environmentally damaging pollution from excess poultry farm litter and generating energy — both electricity and heat — from renewable resources.

Separately, Morgan State University, in partnership with Cykloburn, was awarded a $100,000 Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) Program Grant, funded by the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) and Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to further develop the Cykloburn Heating System for use in poultry houses.

In accordance with the licensing contract, the company has agreed to establish its business and manufacturing operations in Baltimore City.

The technology represents a significant value proposition to individual poultry farmers, by ridding them of poultry waste, creating electricity for operations and providing heat for poultry houses.