Areas of Concentration

INVESTMENTS

The Office of Investments manages the combined Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) endowments and the Cash Management Investment Pool. All funds are managed according to the policies established by the Boards of the University and Foundation under the direction of the Investment Committee.  

The Investment Committee has oversight responsibility for the management of the investments and directs the daily activities of the Office of Investments. The Investment Committee has adopted a diversified approach to investing that balances the goals of maximizing return and preserving purchasing power. By diversifying among asset classes and rebalancing toward policy target allocations, the Investment Committee expects to enhance the Endowment's and Cash Management Investment Pool's real market value and provide a significant long-term funding source for the University's spending requirements. 

IP PROTECTION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

PRF's Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the United States. Purdue's intellectual property is an asset OTC strives to protect, market and license. 

OTC works hand-in-hand with Purdue faculty-, staff- and student-entrepreneurs to provide the resources needed to better understand Purdue policies related to intellectual property and the processes whereby this intellectual property can become an actual product or service. 

Once commercially viable Purdue technologies are identified, OTC assists inventors by protecting discoveries. These technologies can then be marketed and licensed to appropriate industry partners or to startups that are built around the innovations. 

For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at otcip@prf.org.

COMMERCIALIZATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PRF, Purdue Research Park and Purdue Innovates play an instrumental role in furthering Purdue University's economic development agenda by building and operating state-of-the-art technology business incubators. From these technology communities emerge companies that have the ability to bring in out-of-state revenue, offer competitive salaries, and hire the best and brightest minds graduating from Indiana's premiere universities. 

Near the University's main campus is PRF's flagship incubator, Purdue Research Park (PRP), which is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. PRP is the landing pad for startups built around new ideas emerging from Purdue and Discovery Park — Purdue's on-campus endeavor to bring innovation through multidisciplinary research. PRF is bringing the University's business-building programs and services to other parts of Indiana through its satellite incubators in Merrillville and New Albany. 

Purdue Innovates is a unified network at Purdue Research Foundation to assist Purdue faculty, staff, students and alumni in either IP commercialization or startup creation. As a conduit to technology commercialization, intellectual property protection and licensing, startup creation and venture capital, Purdue Innovates serves as the front door to translate new ideas into world-changing impact. 

For more information about involvement and investment opportunities in startups based on Purdue innovation, contact Purdue Innovates at purdueinnovates@prf.org. 

REAL ESTATE

Anticipating where Purdue University expansion will occur, PRF purchases parcels of available land ahead of time, and this foresight in acquiring real estate has saved the University millions of dollars. PRF owns and oversees the following:  

• More than 130 properties, including approximately 10,000 acres of Indiana farmland, and many rental properties leased through Purdue West 

• A shopping center along the west edge of the campus 

• Purdue Research Park, which was founded as the Purdue Industrial Research Park in 1961 as well as the Purdue Technology Centers of Northwest Indiana and Southeast Indiana.  

• Discovery Park District, a 400-acre launch pad designed to create a vibrant "live-work-play" environment steps from Purdue. The district includes the Beck Barn, a10,600-square-foot, multi-use building home to The Lawrence, opening in late 2025. 

PURDUE FOR LIFE

Created in 2020 by uniting the Purdue Alumni Association and the University Development Office, Purdue for Life drives and coordinates all alumni-related activities across the Purdue family’s post-graduation lives and works with alumni, friends, and fans to garner support for the institution. In the four years since the formation of Purdue for Life, total dollars raised have grown by 51%, philanthropic cash has grown by 71%, and total donors have grown by 9%. 

FUNDING RESEARCH

Various funds have been left in trust with PRF to support the activities of Purdue University's Division of Research and Scholarly Activities. 

Following recommendations from the deans of each Purdue school or college, funds are awarded through a set of annual grant competitions coordinated by Sponsored Program Services, which is a Purdue division that submits proposals and negotiates contracts for externally sponsored projects, administers sponsor awards, provides management data on sponsored projects, and provides research communication services. The following grants are awarded annually: Faculty Research Grants, Summer Faculty Grants, International Travel Grants, Special Incentive Research Grants, and grants for the Doctoral Fellowship Program and the Equipment Matching Fund. 

TECH DIPLOMACY

The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue is the creator and leader of a new discipline—called Tech Diplomacy—that integrates technology expertise, Silicon Valley strategies and foreign policy tools to ensure that technology advances freedom. 

 
To accomplish its mission, the Krach Institute offers  Tech Diplomacy training  to business leaders, technologists, and the global foreign policy community; is building the  Global Trusted Tech Network  to bring together like-minded countries, companies and civil society to operate by a shared set of trust principles; and is guiding the creation of  Tech Diplomacy strategies and solutions  that can be used to prevent authoritarian domination of vital tech sectors.