Purdue News

Research and development summit scheduled in Indy

It's the third of three regional meetings around the country that will culminate in a fall summit in Washington to review findings and make recommendations on a national policy for research and development.

More than 300 corporate executives, university leaders, researchers, members of Congress and senior government officials have been invited to the daylong April 1 summit at the Adam's Mark Hotel. Purdue University and the Washington-based Council on Competitiveness are co-sponsoring the meeting, which is called "A Midwest Summit on the Future of American Innovation."

The earlier meetings -- also co-sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness -- were held in February in San Diego and this month in Atlanta.

The participants at the Indianapolis meeting will spend the day discussing the need for more effective collaboration between the private and public sector, and charting a research and development course for the next century.

The keynote speaker will be Randall Tobias, chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Co. Purdue President Steven C. Beering will welcome the participants and moderate the program.

"We have two objectives," Beering said. "The first is to focus on action steps that will strengthen research and development partnerships as drivers of innovation for the Midwest and the United States economy as a whole. Second is to further a national dialogue on the urgent need for more effective collaboration between the private and public sectors to maintain U.S. science and technological leadership."

The regional summits are based on the Council on Competitiveness report "Endless Frontier, Limited Resources: U.S. R&D Policy for Competitiveness." The report examines the future of U.S. research and development enterprise while promoting new models of partnerships based on collaborations between government, industry and academia.

Partnerships with industry are among the most fruitful ways that universities and national laboratories can maintain their role as major sources of invention and discovery, Beering said. For example, Purdue is involved in a hundreds of university/industry projects.

Some examples:

• The Caterpillar Strategic Technical Partnership, involving several departments of the university, including mechanical, electrical and agricultural engineering.
  
• The National Science Foundation and Purdue are working with the Engineering Research Center on Collaborative Manufacturing.
  
• The extensive list of cooperative projects between Purdue and the NSF also includes software engineering and development of new processes for the pharmaceutical and other industries.
  
• Purdue's Department of Food Science participates in a number of collaborations with industry to improve food processing methods, which benefits both consumers and Midwest producers.

The Council on Competitiveness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit forum of 150 chief executives from business, labor and academia working to set a national action agenda to strengthen U.S. competitiveness.

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Source: John Schnedier, director of industry research and technology programs at Purdue, (765) 494-0743
Writer: Grady Jones, (765) 494-2079; e-mail, grady_jones@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: There will be a noon briefing for journalists with at least four of the speakers and panelists. To arrange coverage or for a copy of the agenda, contact Grady Jones at (765) 494-2079; e-mail: grady_jones@purdue.edu

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