DIAL Ventures uses a three-fold innovation strategy to develop solutions for some of the biggest problems facing the food supply chain
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 7, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- DIAL Ventures, an innovation initiative launched by Purdue University, has set out to help digitize the agri-food system. Some areas that are being addressed by DIAL Ventures' initiatives are food safety, supply chain transparency, labor shortages, sustainability, and environmental impact. Through its unique innovation process, DIAL Ventures strives to solve problems in agri-food's globally distributed continuous production system.
"The agri-food system has consistently been recognized as one of the industries furthest behind in its ability to digitize. DIAL Ventures exists to solve that problem," said Allan Gray, executive director of DIAL Ventures. "Our process de-risks the human talent needed to run startup companies and de-risks startup ideas."
DIAL Ventures' three-fold strategy is:
- Open innovation to benefit the industry;
- A fellowship program for top entrepreneurs; and
- Corporate partnerships to drive strategy.
DIAL Ventures uses its unmatched industry expertise to rally participants in the industry to stay on the cutting edge of innovation. As a result, innovative companies are created based on emerging trends and opportunities.
These new studio companies are developed in concert with DIAL Ventures' fellowship program. The people in this program are high-potential entrepreneurs who are brought in every six months to work in a system designed to take them through company development activity while they also collaborate on ideas directly with the DIAL Ventures' industry partners.
"These industry partners help us define the problems and then the fellows learn those ideas and develop themselves into entrepreneurs," Gray said.
Once the industry problems to be fixed have been identified, the fellows and experts in the industry work together to build digital innovation solutions to those problems. New business ideas for the companies that stem from the studio processes are pitched every six months to an investment committee at a Pitch Day event.
The first Pitch Day was held on June 3 at the Purdue University campus.
"Our fellows made pitches for two companies that could be started. The companies focus on labor issues in agriculture and relationships between landowners and farmers," Gray said. "Those two companies came from our process that is industry-driven, fellows-developed, and now we are in the phase of trying to decide which if either of these companies we might invest in using smart capital.
Details on if the companies secure investment funding will be released at a later time.
Brad Fruth, director of innovation at Beck's Hybrids, was in attendance at Pitch Day.
"DIAL is a very unique organization, especially to be affiliated with a university. It is one of the first, and it might be the first, in agriculture. Startup studios, much like what DIAL has put together, create a huge opportunity to innovate at a much faster pace," Fruth said.
Mitch Frazier, CEO of Agrinovus, also was in attendance.
"The pitches were incredible. Both teams really defined clearly, the problems that need to be solved. While that seems like such a simple question to ask, it is a really hard question to answer. And both the teams today did a really great job of formulating a thesis around the problem, formulating a thesis for the solution to the problem, and then presenting a really unique approach," Frazier said.
For more information about DIAL Ventures, visit dialventures.com.
About DIAL Ventures
DIAL Ventures, the innovation arm of the Purdue Applied Research Institute, tackles big problems facing the U.S. and the world such as food safety, supply chain efficiency, sustainability, and environmental impact. DIAL Ventures creates new companies that drive innovation in the agri-food industry which, in turn, makes a positive impact on our lives and lifestyles for years to come. Learn more at dialventures.com.
Media Contact
Tim Dixon, DIAL Ventures, 1 317.572.8780, [email protected]
SOURCE DIAL Ventures
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