Lilly Endowment Inc. Announcement Q&A

 

(1) Explain specifically how Indiana University will use the grant.

The grant will help Indiana University establish the Indiana Pervasive Computing Research Initiative (IPCRES). This initiative will significantly expand basic research in information technology here in Indiana, specifically in the field of pervasive computing, and will leverage this investment in basic research to expand the information economy in Indiana. This will be done by establishing at Indiana University six world class research laboratories in the areas of software technologies and advanced telecommunications.

The IPCRES Initiative will provide a venue for IU researchers and scientists to form collaborations with the Indiana business community, to advance the role of information technology in the State of Indiana. These activities will build on the technology developments and scientific discoveries of IPCRES Laboratories, promoting the creation of new businesses and the modernization of existing ones.

 

(2) Explain specifically how Rose-Hulman will use the grant.

The grant will create and develop the Rose-Hulman Center for an Innovation Economy (RHCIE). The Center will develop bold new programs and a state-of-the-art business incubator to advance engineering and science education, and create as well as attract high-tech businesses to Indiana. The Center will provide faculty and students with cutting-edge professional practice opportunities and help retain more Rose-Hulman graduates in Indiana.

The RHCIE will also include a business incubator that will increase the development of technological innovations into new commercial ventures to provide more high-level career opportunities for Rose-Hulman students and graduates and Indiana citizens. The Center will include Innoventure, a venture capital fund to provide capital for commercial development of promising high-technology projects that will attract and retain entrepreneurs to Indiana.

 

(3) Why is the Lilly Foundation making these gifts?

Lilly Endowment is concerned about the negative impact that Indiana=s low educational attainment levels have on the welfare and prosperity of the residents of the state. To complement other Endowment programs aimed at this issue, the Endowment invited these two institutions to develop proposals to achieve a new level of excellence in areas of strategic importance to the institutions and our state=s future. We were please that both institutions proposed cutting-edge programs that will make quantum leaps in research and education and foster critical clusters of expertise in high technology. These developments will be essential for Indiana to prosper in a globally competitive, high-tech economy.

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Lilly Endowment questions and answers -- 2

 

(4) How will these gifts benefit Indiana?

Indiana has the potential to significantly increase and expand its participation in the growth of the Internet economy. By making major investments in basic information technology research and building on these, the grant to Indiana University Foundation will have a significant impact on economic development in the State. The IPCRES Economic Development Office will develop a program that will build on the work of the IPCRES Laboratories to:

* Use IPCRES to greatly expand the number of IU graduates trained in all areas of information technology, and to retain graduates of Indiana colleges and universities using the increased employment opportunities arising out of these initiatives.

* Provide laboratory facilities for developmental work, testing the commercial potential of university research and eventually assisting in its commercialization.

* Form technology incubators as a way of aligning IPCRES and commercial research efforts.

* Attract new academic and corporate IT researchers to Indiana, and focus business attraction efforts on targeted clusters of research and development intensive firms.

* Assist with the establishment of new start-up and spin-off companies, and help to infuse information technology and innovation into established Indiana business and industry to assist them in becoming more competitive in the information age.

* Bring together technology intermediaries and stakeholders from government, economic development groups, academe, non-profits, and the private sector.

The grant to Rose-Hulman will have an unprecedented impact on the college's efforts to provide the education and career development the Endowment has cited as critical to Indiana's future. The need for the Rose-Hulman Center for an Innovation Economy is predicated upon the conviction that Indiana must develop an economy based on the constant translation of technological innovations into new commercial entities to provide high-level career opportunities for its citizens.

The RHCIE will provide access to the full range of services needed to move innovations into the commercial marketplace. Activities occurring in the Center should result in significant increases in career opportunities and in the sales volume of Indiana companies by the end of the three-year grant period. More importantly, an educational and economic engine will be in place to continue to increase these results in subsequent years.

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(lillyqa)