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The Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County campus in Rockville is starting a technology commercialization and entrepreneurship program based on a similar initiative at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, that officials said has led to the formation of more than 25 companies since its inception in 2005.

Called "Innovate!," the one-year program will take 15 business executives and 15 post-doctoral entrepreneurs through the process of evaluating a technological product's commercial potential and starting a business around that product. The products will be from the National Institutes of Health, Hopkins and other research institutions and federal agencies.

The program is among the follow-up projects sparked by the county's biosciences task force report, said Elaine Amir, executive director of Hopkins' Montgomery County campus. One of that report's five key objectives was to enhance the environment for entrepreneurship and the creation of new life sciences companies, she noted.

"It's great that Johns Hopkins can help advance that goal," Amir said.

The university's Carey Business School will launch the program in February. It is funded by a National Science Foundation grant.

The University of Maryland's Activate program has helped launch companies such as Foligo Therapeutics, a Rockville biopharmaceutical company developing products to treat ovarian cancer. That program was also supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, as well as from the Maryland Technology Development Corp.

Partners for the Innovate! program include Rockville Economic Development, the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and NIH.

An information session about the program is slated for 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at Hopkins' Montgomery County campus. To make reservations for the session, call 301-315-2896.