Business Development

The Office of Business Development

Purdue’s Office of Business Development resides within the Purdue Research Foundation. Its purpose is to provide comprehensive assistance to Purdue entrepreneurs. Although highly sophisticated in its understanding of startup creation and the pathways intellectual property must take to be commercialized, the Office of Business Development strives to make its services accessible, practical and very much focused on its customers—Purdue entrepreneurs.

The Office of Business Development is led by Jonathan D. Gortat, Director of Business Development for the Purdue Research Foundation and Discovery Park. An experienced entrepreneur, he is the point of contact for technology commercialization and business acceleration efforts of the Emerging Innovations Fund. He and his team work directly with Purdue entrepreneurs to guide them through the commercialization process. This includes overseeing the Emerging Innovations Fund application and award process, as well as helping Purdue entrepreneurs find the appropriate resources—technology evaluation and protection, courses and seminars, entrepreneurial mentors, and capital—at the appropriate time.

This investment on the part of the University is paying significant dividends in the form of a highly motivated, aware and engaged research community and a growing portfolio of new technologies and companies that have completed a stringent, early stage commercialization process and are now more attractive to business and industry market and venture capitalists.