{"id":21369,"date":"2026-04-29T08:52:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=21369"},"modified":"2026-04-29T12:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:00:14","slug":"president-chiang-named-techpoints-2026-trailblazer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/Q2\/president-chiang-named-techpoints-2026-trailblazer","title":{"rendered":"President Chiang named TechPoint\u2019s 2026 Trailblazer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Purdue University President Mung Chiang has been honored as the Indiana tech sector\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/techpoint.org\/purdue-president-mung-chiang-techpoint-2026-trailblazer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2026 Trailblazer<\/a> for his efforts in building a pipeline of talent and positioning the Big Ten university and the state of Indiana as a global leader driving the AI, hard tech and health economies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three other Purdue-led or supported startups or initiatives also won top awards during TechPoint\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/techpoint.org\/mira-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2026 Mira Awards gala<\/a> Friday (April 24):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/purdueinnovates.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Purdue Innovates<\/a> was named Innovation Service Partner of the Year.\u00a0The program provides funding, mentorship and other resources to help founders and researchers commercialize their innovations. The program \u201calready has supported a significant number of startups and products, bringing new companies, technologies and investment into Indiana\u2019s innovation ecosystem,\u201d TechPoint noted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Ascend Indiana Talent Innovation Award recognized a major collaboration among\u00a0Purdue\u2019s West Lafayette and Indianapolis locations as well as Eli Lilly and Company, and the\u00a0Indianapolis, Bloomington and Lafayette campuses of\u00a0Ivy Tech Community College. The partnership \u201cearned top recognition for its thoughtful, employer-driven approach to expanding Indiana\u2019s tech talent pipeline at scale,\u201d TechPoint said.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FiberX, a Merrillville, Indiana-based company that has roots at Purdue, earned the AgriNovus Indiana AgBioscience Innovation Award. <a href=\"https:\/\/fiberxproducts.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FiberX<\/a> turns agricultural by-products into sustainable fiber materials such as packaging, textiles and consumer goods. \u201cJudges praised the company\u2019s strong research partnerships, deep industry traction and meaningful environmental impact, reducing agricultural waste while\u00a0maintaining\u00a0quality and cost competitiveness,\u201d TechPoint said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As TechPoint\u2019s Trailblazer Award winner, Chiang \u2014 who became Purdue\u2019s 13th president in 2023 \u2014 was recognized for positioning the institution as an intellectual and industrial engine for Indiana\u2019s rise as a national technology leader, linking discovery, delivery and talent at scale. His blend of technical expertise and public-policy experience continues to underpin Purdue\u2019s expanding role in the national innovation ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chiang-Trailblazer-6.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21368\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chiang-Trailblazer-6.jpeg 876w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chiang-Trailblazer-6-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chiang-Trailblazer-6-768x432.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Purdue President Mung Chiang reacts after being selected as the 2026 Trailblazer Award winner during TechPoint\u2019s annual Mira Awards celebration April 24. (Photo provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Seventeen awards were announced during the 27th annual gala, which took place at the\u00a0Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts\u00a0in Carmel, Indiana. A judges\u2019 panel selected recipients from 106\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.insideindianabusiness.com\/articles\/techpoint-unveils-2026-mira-award-finalists\">previously announced<\/a>\u00a0finalists. In all, <a href=\"https:\/\/techpoint.org\/\">TechPoint<\/a> received 231 submissions for this year\u2019s awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Purdue University President Mung Chiang has been honored as the Indiana tech sector\u2019s 2026 Trailblazer for his efforts in building a pipeline of talent and positioning the Big Ten university and the state of Indiana as a global<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":21366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"department":[],"source":[334],"purdue_today_topic":[92],"coauthors":[243],"class_list":["post-21369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-excellence","source-purdue-today","purdue_today_topic-faculty-staff-know"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21370,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21369\/revisions\/21370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21369"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=21369"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=21369"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=21369"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}