Purdue appoints inaugural senior university fellow for innovation and entrepreneurship

Christian Butzke, a professor of food science at Purdue University, has been appointed as the first senior university fellow for innovation and entrepreneurship. His role is to foster a university-wide academic culture of innovation for societal impact and to support the commercialization of research. Butzke, who is also a co-founder of a startup, brings a wealth of experience to this important role.

In collaboration with the Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue Innovates, Butzke will lead a campus-wide network of faculty to coach, mentor, and support each other through their commercialization or entrepreneurship journeys. This initiative aims to recruit and retain talented faculty and graduate students, as well as increase the societal impact of Purdue technology through licensing to industry or startups.

Butzke will oversee college- and school-based I&E fellows and departmental I&E ambassadors who will provide individual guidance to faculty on how to balance an academic career with entrepreneurship. The goal is to encourage an academic culture where researchers consider potential commercialization to maximize the impact of their ideas, discoveries, and innovations.

Having firsthand entrepreneurial experience, Butzke is the co-founder and chief enologist of VinSense, an agricultural management-decision software company for grape and wine producers. Through collaboration with colleagues at Purdue, Butzke has successfully navigated the challenges of starting a business and has learned valuable lessons from both successes and failures.

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

In conclusion, Christian Butzke’s appointment as the senior university fellow for innovation and entrepreneurship at Purdue University marks a significant step towards fostering a culture of innovation and commercialization among faculty. His experience as an entrepreneur and his dedication to supporting researchers in their entrepreneurial endeavors will undoubtedly contribute to the continued success of Purdue’s research and innovation ecosystem.