since moved out into the university’s network of research parks.
The Purdue Foundry also works with different schools around campus to develop materials and curricula for entrepreneurial courses and applied learning opportunities. Some of the technological areas in which Purdue excels, Deason notes, are life sciences, medical devices, computer science, diagnostics, biomedical and mechanical engineering, and agtech. Forty percent of Purdue startups come out of the College of Engineering, he adds.
When he contemplates the future, Deason says he’d like to bring more liberal arts students, as well as those from parts of the university not traditionally associated with entrepreneurship, into the Foundry’s fold. He’d also like to tackle the challenge of identifying and grooming managerial talent. He hopes serial entrepreneurs looking for a new role or later-stage professionals planning to leave their industry will consider applying their talents to managing a university-bred startup.
“We’ll be looking for ways to vault our companies from starting to get traction to the next level of success,” Deason says.
