November 5, 2007

Purdue Research Park receives 'tech park' recertification from state

The Purdue Research Park was designated as the state's first Certified Technology Park in 2003. The recertification was announced by Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation, and West Lafayette Mayor Jan H. Mills.

"When we became the first Certified Technology Park in the state, we established a partnership between the Purdue Research Foundation and the city of West Lafayette to develop the land into a technology park to help incubate and grow high-tech business," Hornett said. "Now the Purdue Research Park has more than 140 companies, and about 90 of those firms are technology-related. Twenty-four of the companies in the Certified Technology Park are based on or utilizing Purdue University discoveries.

"We also have the Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana and are developing two more parks, one in Indianapolis and another in New Albany."

The 725-acre park in West Lafayette is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. During the period from 2004 to 2007 the Certified Technology Park added more than 700 new jobs and increased payroll by more than $36 million.

"The recertification process included extensive, quantitative analysis on how well a Certified Technology Park performed during its four-year certification," Mills said. "The City of West Lafayette has benefited greatly from this relationship. The city has garnered more than $700,000 in property tax from the Purdue Certified Technology Park this year. It is gratifying that the state recognizes the success of the partnership between West Lafayette and the Purdue Research Park."

The state's Certified Technology Park program is a result of the state's 2002 tax restructuring legislation. The program encourages the development of high-growth, high-wage business opportunities and facilitates technology transfer between the corporate and academic sectors. Designation as a Certified Technology Park allows for the local areas to recapture certain state and local tax revenue that can then be invested in the park's development. A park is certified for a four-year period.

The Purdue Research Park was ranked No. 1 in 2004 for university-affiliated research parks and received the 2005 Outstanding Commercialization Award, both from the Association of University Research Parks. The park's companies also have received numerous recognitions, including a 2006 MIRA Award: Innovation of the Year for Purdue Research Park/Quadraspec Inc. and a 2005 CoreNet Global Innovators Award finalist. Many of the technologies developed for commercialization are discovered by researchers at Purdue University and Purdue's Discovery Park.

The Purdue Research Park is part of the Purdue Research Foundation, a private, nonprofit foundation created to assist Purdue University in the area of economic development. In addition to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, the foundation has established or is currently constructing technology parks in other locations around Indiana including Merrillville, New Albany and Indianapolis.

To the Purdue Research Park, https://www.purdueresearchpark.com

Purdue Research Foundation marketing and communication contact:
Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192 (office), (765) 413-6031 (mobile), casequin@prf.org

Sources:Joseph B. Hornett, (765) 496-1658,
jbhornett@prf.org
Jan H. Mills, (765) 775-5100