Discovery Park provides Purdue University with facilities, equipment, and leadership to tackle the grand challenges of our world, using an interdisciplinary approach to research. Here, innovative collaborations in nanotechnology, bioscience, health-care engineering, innovative learning, manufacturing, and cyber infrastructure are converging with initiatives in cancer treatment, information technology, energy, entrepreneurship, and the environment. Discovery Park’s primary mission is to seek solutions to these challenges, move research from the laboratory to the marketplace more quickly, foster economic development, and help create jobs for the state and nation.

Located on 40 acres on State Street at the southwest edge of campus, Discovery Park has grown into a $350 million engine for economic development and attracted millions of dollars in sponsored research and donations for new facilities. The 10 primary centers are Bindley Bioscience Center, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Center for Environment, Cyber Center, Discovery Learning Center, e-Enterprise Center, Energy Center, and Oncological Sciences Center. In addition, these centers support and facilitate expanded activities, such as the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue Homeland Security Institute, and the Indiana Center for Cultural Exchange.

Since its opening, Discovery Park has generated $200 million worth of sponsored research, $150 million in new facilities, $20 million in new lab and research equipment, and $3.5 million for seed grants to support early-stage interdisciplinary research. More than 1,000 faculty members are actively engaged in the park. Nearly 3,000 students work on projects; another 250 graduate students have offices there. Discovery Park has formed strategic agreements with 20 corporate partners and facilitated 20 new start-up companies in cooperation with the Purdue Research Park.

Discovery Park provides some of the most advanced equipment now available to researchers for addressing specific projects across multiple disciplines. As researchers within the park’s centers work more closely together, they can take on larger projects with greater impact. Laboratory walls within the facilities are movable so researchers also can respond quickly to the needs of major projects. Scientists also are collaborating with private companies, which are attracted to Purdue’s innovative approach to research.

Purdue also has added 102,000 square feet of research laboratory space and 59,000 square feet of office space for faculty, staff and students. Facilities include:
• $12.4 million Mann Hall, which opened in May 2007 to provide offices for Center for Advanced Manufacturing, e-Enterprise Center, Oncological Sciences Center, the Purdue Homeland Security Institute, the Regenstrief Center and several other centers.
• $58 million Birck Nanotechnology Center, which was dedicated in October 2005.
• $15 million Bindley Bioscience Center, which also was dedicated in October 2005.
• $7 million Burton Morgan Center, which was the park’s first building to open in 2004.
• $25 million home for the Discovery Learning Center will include Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Development, which was created from a $100 million endowment to commercialize innovative biomedical technologies developed at Purdue.