WEST LAFAYETTE – YourEncore and Purdue Research Foundation officials unveiled Tuesday (June 21) a partnership that will connect YourEncore's experienced talent with Purdue's entrepreneurship and startup development activities to move innovations to market faster.
YourEncore is a leading provider of experts-on-demand for the pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer goods industries. YourEncore experts include former executives from Fortune 500 companies as well as teams of experts with experience and technical know-how to get complex work done quickly.
“YourEncore experts average 25 years experience in a wide range of technical areas, and they can provide entrepreneurs with both the insight and the connections to advance their technology and startups,” said Dr. Tim Franson, chief medical officer at YourEncore. “We are impressed by the dramatic increase in entrepreneurship and technology commercialization at Purdue in the past few years, and believe YourEncore experts will be enthusiastic to apply their years of industry experience to help Purdue startups make critical decisions, fill resource gaps, facilitate investments or serve as executives.”
YourEncore is based in Indianapolis with offices in Princeton, Cincinnati and legal entities in the U.K. and Germany. The company has more than 11,000 experts, of which more than 7,000 hold advanced degrees.
“This may be the most significant thing we have done to more systematically connect our innovators and inventions to seasoned talent who can help move their ideas to market,” said Dan Hasler, president of Purdue Research Foundation, a nonprofit entity that manages Purdue University's intellectual property and entrepreneurship. “Purdue faculty, staff and students generate over 100 U.S. patents annually that represent hundreds of life-changing innovations. Those technologies find their way to value creation through licensing to established corporations or to startups. These entrepreneurs are already receiving help through the Purdue Foundry. We want to build on this success and do even more.”
The Purdue Foundry, located in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, is Purdue's entrepreneurial hub where professionals help Purdue innovators create startups.
“A typical high-tech startup is initially led by founders that discovered the technology. As these companies gain traction, their need to create an executive team with deep business knowledge and experience is critical to complement the deep technical skill of the founders,” Hasler said. “YourEncore can help these startups identify executive leadership to fill critical roles like CEO and CFO. These startups also are looking for executive leadership in business development, sales, marketing, manufacturing and operations.”
Purdue has celebrated back-to-back record breaking years in entrepreneurial activities with 85 startups, 49 of which are based on Purdue University patented innovations and another 36 on Purdue “know-how.” According to the Association of University Technology Managers, or AUTM, Purdue is ranked third in the country for startup creation based on university technologies. The California and Texas educational systems are ranked first and second, respectively. Purdue also is ranked 16th in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents in 2014, according to a report released by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
