In 2018, Purdue University reached a milestone with the creation of more than 223 start-up companies.
The university has been monitoring this since 2013 when Mitch Daniels became Purdue’s President and created an initiative to ensure students and faculty gain the rights to their inventions and ideas.
Purdue Senior Vice President of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Greg Deason said it was a step in the right direction for the university.
“We needed to distinguish ourselves by creating start-ups and the ability to commercialize our technologies,” said Deason.
President Daniels said more than 60 of the 223 start-ups were founded and owned by Purdue students.
“We are out to be entrepreneur U, where we encourage and help students think about being job creators, job makers and not just takers but secondly to be a driver of growth for the Greater Lafayette area,” said Daniels.
These start-ups have brought more than 300 jobs to the community. Many of those through the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network, which focuses on agriculture in the area. President Daniels and Deason said reaching a milestone like this is a good sign for a thriving community.
“This is a region that stretches from Chicago to Indianapolis and Purdue is right in the middle of it. West Lafayette is right in the middle of it so yeah, start-up city. We want you to come here fulfill your dreams and to make an impact,” said Deason.
Major international companies have acquired nine Purdue based start-ups for a total of $2.3 Billion.
According to a Purdue Press release, these are the some of the biggest companies acquired:
Endocyte Inc., a drug development company, was acquired in 2018 by Novartis AG for $2.1 billion.
DATTUS Inc., a leader in industrial Internet of Things, sold for an undisclosed price in 2018 to Michigan –based Plex Systems.
Spensa Technologies, a digital ag technology company, was sold for an undisclosed amount in 2018 to DTN, a global insights and analysis company based in Minneapolis.
Griffin Analytics, a mass spectrometry company, merged with ICx Technologies in 2006 and was later purchased as part of a package by FLIR Systems Inc. in 2010 for about $274 million.
Source: Purdue reaches milestone with helping launch more than 200 start-ups since 2013
