There has been widespread analysis and commentary in recent weeks about what the Brexit vote will mean for the global economy, but School of Public Policy Professor John Rennie Short wrote in a June 25 op-ed in The Conversation that the vote reveals a lot about the political geography in the United Kingdom.

“The vote laid bare a seldom-acknowledged political and economic imbalance within the country. It has also raised the chances of dissolving a more than three centuries-old union,” he explained.

Short wrote about the economic and social inequality in the U.K. and how the voted reflected competing interests in a crowded political space.

“There is a spatial dimension to this social inequality. The U.K. has the most marked regional inequality in Europe. The rich and wealthy are concentrated in London and the South East where household incomes are higher than the rest of the country. As the U.K. became a more unequal and divided society, the cleavage between London and the South East compared to the rest of the country is becoming more marked.”

Prof. Short also wrote about what lies ahead politically for the U.K., stating, “the Brexit vote reveals and embodies the deep divide in the U.K. between the different regions of England and Wales and especially between the affluent London and the South East. This division is unlikely to heal soon.”

Read Short’s full article, titled “The geography of Brexit: what the vote reveals about the Disunited Kingdom,” on The Conversation‘s website. The article was also republished in the Associated Press, Salon, and SF Gate.

Image: John Rennie Short. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

AirPhoton and Phoenix Operations Group are the newest bwtech@UMBC companies to win Maryland Incubator Company of the Year (ICOY) awards. AirPhoton won best technology product company, and Phoenix Operations Group won best data analytics company at the awards event held June 21 at the American Visionary Arts Museum.  Six other bwtech@UMBC companies were recognized as finalists.

AirPhoton produces customized scientific equipment for air quality data collection. The instruments they build are employed on the ground, in aircraft, and on satellites.

“AirPhoton is very excited to be recognized with this award, especially given the other very fine companies that were selected as finalists,” says Lorraine Remer, CEO and research professor of physics at UMBC. “We hope to continue growing and contributing to the incubator program and the Maryland economy.”

Phoenix Operations Group offers data analytics, cloud application design and administration, and platform optimization services to the intelligence community. Devin Edwards, director of strategic development, says the research park has served the company well.

“The cyber incubator at bwtech@UMBC was able to provide Phoenix Operations Group with access to industry professionals to help set up our infrastructure,” Edwards says, “thereby allowing us to compete and grow within our domain in a matter of months, surpassing companies that have been in the industry for years.”

The event’s keynote speech by Andy Jones, managing director of the Maryland Venture Fund, centered on advice for new entrepreneurs. Stay focused on a small range of products or services and embrace board meetings as opportunities to take stock, he said. Also, “growth is your friend,” because revenue gives a company leeway to try new things. Perhaps most important, “Surround yourself with good people,” he told emerging entrepreneurs. “It really is a marriage, so pick your partners carefully.”

Previous ICOY winners from bwtech@UMBC include:

2014

Light Point Security (Best Cyber Company)

2013

Plasmonix, Inc. (Best Technology Transfer Company)

2012

Noxilizer (Best Life Sciences Company)

StormCenter Communicaitons, Inc. (Best Cyber/Homeland Security Company)

SemaConnect, Inc. (Best Green Company)

2009

Oculis Labs, Inc. (Best Information Technology Company)

2007

Lentigen Corporation (Best Life Sciences Company)

BDMetrics, Inc. (Best Graduate Company)

2006

Profectus BioSciences, Inc. (Best Technology Transfer Company)

2005

AVIcode, Inc. (Best New Incubator Company)

TechGuard Security, LLC (Best Information Technology Company)

2004

BDMetrics, Inc. (Best New Incubator Company)

2003

Scientific Products & Systems, Inc. (Most Promising Technology Transfer)

2002

Columbia Technologies (Best Innovative Technology Company)

In Vitro Technologies, Inc. (Best Graduate Company)

Header image: Andy Jones gives the event’s key note.

Other images: AirPhoton team members accept their award (top) and Phoenix Operations Group team members accept theirs (bottom).

Photos sourced from www.mdincubatoraward.com

Dr. Vaporis' project is Sword and Brush: Portraits of Samurai Life in Early Modern Japan, 1600-1868.

During the Fellowship, Dr. Vaporis will complete his current book manuscript. Despite the widespread appeal of the samurai as cultural icon, there is a dearth of historical scholarship on the subject in English. Sword and Brush will be the first collection of biographies of samurai, who were the political – military elite of early modern, or Tokugawa, society. This volume, which will be aimed at the general reader and is both a social history of early modern Japan told through the biographies of ten samurai and a study of biography as a historical genre.

Two bwtech@UMBC companies win 2016 Maryland Incubator Company of the Year awards

AirPhoton and Phoenix Operations Group are the newest bwtech@UMBC companies to win Maryland Incubator Company of the Year (ICOY) awards. AirPhoton won best technology product company, and Phoenix Operations Group won best data analytics company at the awards event held June 21 at the American Visionary Arts Museum.  Six other bwtech@UMBC companies were recognized as finalists.

AirPhoton produces customized scientific equipment for air quality data collection. The instruments they build are employed on the ground, in aircraft, and on satellites.

“AirPhoton is very excited to be recognized with this award, especially given the other very fine companies that were selected as finalists,” saysLorraine Remer, CEO and research professor of physics at UMBC. “We hope to continue growing and contributing to the incubator program and the Maryland economy.”

Phoenix Operations Group offers data analytics, cloud application design and administration, and platform optimization services to the intelligence community. Devin Edwards, director of strategic development, says the research park has served the company well.

“The cyber incubator at bwtech@UMBC was able to provide Phoenix Operations Group with access to industry professionals to help set up our infrastructure,” Edwards says, “thereby allowing us to compete and grow within our domain in a matter of months, surpassing companies that have been in the industry for years.”

The event’s keynote speech by Andy Jones, managing director of theMaryland Venture Fund, centered on advice for new entrepreneurs. Stay focused on a small range of products or services and embrace board meetings as opportunities to take stock, he said. Also, “growth is your friend,” because revenue gives a company leeway to try new things. Perhaps most important, “Surround yourself with good people,” he told emerging entrepreneurs. “It really is a marriage, so pick your partners carefully.”

Read more at: http://news.umbc.edu/two-bwtechumbc-companies-win-2016-maryland-incubator-company-of-the-year-awards/