Converting science into startups
Tim Hammerich
Journalist
This is Tim Hammerich from the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future report.
What is the right way to bring the latest scientific and technological advances to the market? That was the question Purdue University asked itself when it launched DIAL Ventures a few years ago. DIAL stands for Digital Innovation Laboratory in Agri-Food Systems. Dr. Lourival Monaco is the research director of the startup studio that attempts to launch companies to tackle big problems in food and agriculture.
Monaco… “As a startup studio, right? Our main goal is to create a positive impact in our industry. So we are at Purdue. So we’re not in it for profit, we’re doing this for money. We do this because agriculture, as we see it, is the backbone of America, and we are trying to create a big impact in this industry. Positive impact. And I talk a lot about impact because the way we see impact is something that exists in the marketplace of this industry, in agriculture and not just in academia. It could therefore not simply be a question of research, of an exercise. It must be applied research, but also translational. And that meant we had to create something that people should use. The way we decided to do this is through startup creation, entrepreneurship and innovation. Purdue is really good at this. Understanding, how can we create new things, right? This is how we decided to proceed. So we started creating startups.
Monaco said the startup studio is currently focused on agriculture, sustainability and environmental impact.