Earlier this month, Kirk White, Indiana University’s assistant vice president for strategic partnerships and vice provost for external relations at IU Bloomington, led a group of individuals from IU’s Hamilton Lugar School for Global and International Studies to Camp Atterbury, the military and civilian training post located in south-central Indiana, about 25 miles south of… Read more »
Entries by Ryan Piurek
IU startup founders create buzz as Forbes’ newest “30 Under 30” honorees
Six years ago, the news and communications team I led at the time was eager to show off its storytelling skills on behalf of Indiana University and, more importantly, to spotlight the work being done at IU to advance the top priority of the university’s newly adopted Bicentennial Strategic Plan: ensuring student success. Our creative… Read more »
Helping to steer the growth of Indy’s fast-growing startup community
Earlier this week, Detroit-based Purpose Jobs, which bills itself as the Midwest’s largest startup community, unveiled its list of Top Indianapolis Startups to Watch in 2022. The 17 Circle City companies that made the list were selected based on a number of factors, including their success in attracting investment, increasing their workforce and launching innovative… Read more »
Giving thanks for a collective innovation culture

Heading into Thanksgiving week, Indiana University is seeing a cornucopia of major developments on the innovation front. Here’s a sampling of several recent advancements, which reflect how IU and its partners are furthering a collective innovation culture across Indiana. Furthering the IU-Crane connection. Earlier this week, at a signing event that included IU President Pamela… Read more »
IU students dominate recent 5G ‘hackathon’ competition
Talk about being “dialed in.” Students from Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI swept up several of the biggest prizes at the recently held AT&T 5G Sports Hackathon, the fifth tech competition that AT&T has hosted in central Indiana in the last six years. This year’s event, which was held at Butler… Read more »
Accelerating Indiana’s growth in AI, automation and STEM
If Indiana is like an IndyCar — racing against other states to transform big ideas into thriving businesses, attract new investment and accelerate growth in transformational industries such as artificial intelligence and automation — its flagship public university might be seen as a highly trained pit crew, engaging its vast educational resources and experience to… Read more »
Connecting capital to ideas and collaborating to ignite Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
For nearly two decades, Biocrossroads has established itself as a leader in helping to build Indiana’s life sciences sector and a major source of venture capital for Indiana-based life sciences startups. Biocrossroads has also been one of Indiana University’s most effective partners in helping to move laboratory discoveries into the marketplace and catalyzing a robust… Read more »
IU Ventures’ investment helps fuel continued growth of Indiana-based life sciences startup and newly named ‘Most Fundable’ company
The first-ever company to receive a double investment through IU Ventures’ startup support ecosystem, diagnostic cancer testing startup Amplified Sciences, just received some resounding support by way of one of the nation’s most rigorous startup competitions. Amplifed Sciences has landed on Pepperdine Graziadio Business School’s fourth-annual Most Fundable Companies List, which was announced during a… Read more »
Helping to drive economic prosperity in the Hoosier state: David Gard named to board of directors of University Economic Development Association
The Hoosier state will be represented on the board of one of the nation’s leading organizations working to engage colleges and universities, businesses, non-profits, government organizations and community economic development stakeholders to drive local and regional economic growth. David Gard, assistant vice president for economic engagement at Indiana University, has been elected as a member-at-large… Read more »
Bringing together the best in innovation, improving Indiana’s quality of life and place
As Indiana University prepares to celebrate Homecoming this weekend, the university is less than a week away from another noteworthy “reunion” activity bringing together alumni and other friends of the university. On Thursday, Oct. 21, IU Ventures will host the inaugural IU Founders and Funders Network Conference, which will spotlight key resources available to IU-affiliated… Read more »