February 23, 2009

Nominations for Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy under way

Students accepted into the weeklong program will learn what it is like to create a business from the concept to raising funds and creating prototypes. At the completion of the program, student teams will be judged by economic development experts on how well they developed business case studies, crafted marketing plans and planned to raise venture capital. 

Members of teams with the highest scores will receive college tuition vouchers to pursue a degree in higher education. All Purdue University campuses and Ivy Tech Community College campuses in Indiana accept the vouchers, which range from $100 to $500.

Timothy Peoples, director of the Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy, said that for the first time nominees will have to include a writing sample. Students should describe what they hope to gain from the weeklong academy in 250 words.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from the academy's Web site at https://www.purdueresearchpark.com/academy/nomination.asp. There is no fee to nominate a student, and there is no limit to the number of students that can be nominated from a single school.

Sponsors for the 2009 program include the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Development at Purdue University, Sign Art Etc., Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union and Purdue Research Foundation. Peoples said additional sponsors are being sought.

The weeklong academy will be June 21-26 on Purdue's West Lafayette campus. During the program, students will work with successful high-tech entrepreneurs, business experts, industry leaders, Purdue faculty and Purdue Research Foundation staff.

About Purdue Research Park

The 725-acre Purdue Research Park (https://www.purdueresearchpark.com) has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The park is home to more than 157 companies. About 100 of these firms are technology-related and another 39 are incubator businesses. The park is owned and managed by 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 technology parks in other locations around Indiana including Merrillville, New Albany and Indianapolis.

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

Purdue Research Park contact:
Steve Martin, (765) 494-6872, sgmartin@prf.org

Source:
Timothy Peoples, (765) 494-6630, trpeoples@prf.org