Indiana Ag Connection - Purdue's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program Awarded

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Purdue's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program Awarded
Indiana Ag Connection - 01/17/2020

The U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) awarded the Purdue Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program the prestigious 2020 Model Entrepreneurship Education Program Award at its annual conference held recently in New Orleans.

Purdue's cross-campus entrepreneurship program was one of three finalists that emerged from a three-stage application process that began in the fall of 2019. Nathalie Duval-Couetil, the founding director of the certificate program, made the final presentation at the USASBE annual conference, where she highlighted program elements that have been key to its success.

"Purdue's entrepreneurship program universally impressed the judges with their student-centered, data-informed, hands-on approach to entrepreneurship education. It is so hard to build bridges and break down silos in academia, and that's the biggest challenge to embracing the interdisciplinary nature of entrepreneurship education," said Eric Liguori, USASBE immediate past president and executive director of Rowan University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. "Purdue demonstrated a comprehensive, well-executed program that is bold, boundary-spanning, and inclusive."

Started in 2005, Purdue's Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program has grown into one of the largest multidisciplinary entrepreneurship programs in the country, serving approximately 2,000 students from over 168 majors across Purdue's West Lafayette campus each year.

"The Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program empowers students in all majors to turn their innovative ideas into action, whether they choose careers in startups, industry or nonprofit organizations," said Duval-Couetil, director of the program and associate director of Purdue's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. "The program is designed to turbocharge a student's degree by providing them with knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to create new ventures or generate value in established organizations."

The Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program was also recently named a Top 50 Entrepreneurship Undergraduate Program by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine. In 2017, it won the Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award as part of the Deshpande Symposium Awards for Excellence in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

"Innovation is a core value at Purdue and through this program, our faculty and staff are helping students from every corner of our campus focus their entrepreneurial drive, collaborate with others who share their innovative spirit, and learn how to move ideas and concepts from design to reality," said Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity. "We couldn't be prouder of our Purdue entrepreneurs who have gone on to create successful startup businesses and the intrapreneurs whose creative ideas are improving businesses and organizations across Indiana and the world."

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