The Emerging Technology Centers can claim $174 million in direct economic impact, according to a city-commissioned report. In 2013, about a third of the ETC’s $2.1 million budget was covered by city funding, according to testimony in the fall.

The study, written by Shannon Lee at the University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute, concluded that 48 of the city-backed tech incubator’s 76 graduates have stayed in Baltimore, generating $108.5 million in direct revenue and employing 311, as the Baltimore Business Journal reported.

“It’s really a test to see if the ETC is doing a good job and I believe the numbers say we are,” ETC executive director Deb Tillett said in a Wednesday conference call, according to the paper.

These survey numbers are for incubated companies. When taking into account other companies that have come through ETC programming, the program has touched more than 300 in 15 years, Tillett said at a city council hearing last year.

The ETC has new offices in Highlandtown and an existing 33rd Street location near the Hopkins Eastern Campus.

-30-