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In 1999, the General Assembly created the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, the first of a series of strategic initiatives designed to help Indiana's manufacturing-based industries lead the state's economic recovery efforts and to motivate the state's college students to stay in Indiana after graduation.
The fund bolsters new economic ventures through incentives for collaborative research between Indiana universities and private industries. Many of these enterprises involve the life sciences—an area in which Indiana is well-positioned to become a leader, given our strong agricultural base and the science-based companies already located here.
Since its inception, the fund has awarded more than $110 million in grants for 85 projects. The food and agricultural system has been well represented in projects funded to date, including:
• Developing functional foods and nutraceutical applications for human and companion animal health.
• Advancing treatment and cures of diseases in both people and animals, a joint project between Purdue and the Indiana University School of Medicine.
• Creating safer methods for large-scale production of crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical proteins.
These are just a few examples of how researchers are working to improve the overall health of our citizens (see “Obesity”).
Our research efforts also help support the BioCrossroads initiative, in which Purdue is a partner. BioCrossroads is designed to help create a life-sciences economy throughout central Indiana . Currently, more than 82,000 Hoosiers work for industries based in the life sciences—typically earning salaries that are two-and-a-half times more than the average central Indiana salary. When we combine the resources of the state's agribusinesses with the research and development at Purdue and other state colleges and universities, we have the potential to create a Silicon Valley atmosphere for agricultural and life sciences right here in Indiana.
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