New Purdue faculty ambassador program geared to support agriculture innovators

WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue University has launched a campus-wide program that will help college innovators connect and share paths for entrepreneurship and commercialization.

To get the program started, the College of Agriculture named Christian Butzke, a food science professor and wine industry entrepreneur, as the first innovation and entrepreneurship fellow.

Butzke said that during his years at Purdue, his main mission has been to teach and take care of Indiana’s wine country.

In 2015, he partnered up and created software that helps with data vitalization of soil data in wine country. The software uses information from satellites and drones to look at and make decisions based on the data they see.

“We use modern agriculture to make wine,” Butzke said, adding he also works as a liaison with Purdue Research by encouraging startups.

He encourages individuals and students to turn ideas into companies and get licensee patents for their ideas.

Butzke said this new program will allow faculty and students to have the position to take their idea or project to the next level.

“The new approach can make a continuous pipeline with new ideas and new companies,” he said.

The program will allow for staff to be researchers and entrepreneurs, Butzke said.

The program is trying to connect stakeholders with new companies led by faculty and students, which can lead to new jobs and a possible new revenue stream for Purdue Agriculture, he said.