The partnership was established on May 23 via memorandum of understanding and will involve creating a shared-use space to focus on improving human, animal, and plant health.
Purdue University has entered into a partnership with Elanco Animal Health Inc., an animal health innovation leader, to contribute to the One Health Innovation District in Indianapolis, Indiana. The partnership will help establish a shared-use space within the district that will research improvements to the health of animals, plants, and human beings. Purdue University is also opening an extension campus in Indianapolis this summer.
According to an article on Purdue University’s website, Purdue’s president Mung Chiang was quoted as saying of the partnership and establishment within the One Health Innovation District, “Totality of Purdue to the totality of Indianapolis — that’s our pledge as the Indianapolis part of Purdue’s main campus officially launches on July 1. In the coming years, all programs at Purdue will find homes throughout our state’s capital city. Today’s announcement carries a special excitement for the partnership and the location. Purdue is excited to partner with Elanco and other collaborators to build out the ecosystem of One Health Innovation District, starting from the building announced and expanding to an entire district. Human health, animal health, plant health will be jointly advanced by the nation’s leading companies and our state’s top-ranked university.”
Elanco Animal Health is in the process of constructing its new global headquarters within the One Health Innovation District, and the shared-use facility it will collaborate on with Purdue University will be in close proximity, which both Elanco and Purdue University believe will help solidify their partnership and foster collaboration between the university’s research and Elanco’s innovation. The shared space will feature wet labs, incubator space, and office space. An expansion of Elanco’s property within the innovation district is already planned to accommodate its future Epicenter for Animal Health.
Indianapolis is already home to many companies within the biotech industry, and the One Health Innovation District will further establish the area as the center of innovation. Eli Lilly and Company’s headquarters is in the city, as well as Cortiva Agriscience’s headquarters. Together with Elanco Animal Health, the three entities represent the industries of human, plant, and animal health.
“For life-changing innovations to move from idea to reality, they must grow in the right environment. The many partners in the Indianapolis One Health Innovation District will set Indianapolis apart as an area where innovators will find a vast ecosystem of support — including one of the world’s leading universities, funding, lab space, collaboration with many other innovators and companies — and most significantly, shared technical development and pilot plant facilities to manufacture and scale innovations. We believe connecting innovators with access to world-class, state-of-the-art resources will help bring solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues facing people, animals and the environment. This is a key milestone in bringing to life our goal of creating an animal health epicenter to reach the world’s animals from our new global headquarters in the heart of Indianapolis,” said Jeff Simmons, the president and CEO of Elanco Animal Health.
The governor of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, was quoted as saying of the partnership, “The One Health Innovation District will propel the state’s vision for our regional technology hub aimed at accelerating collaborative innovation in our life sciences. The partnership marks a rare and noteworthy move wherein a global health company, a university and a government come together with a shared vision. The district will create an ecosystem that is focused on talent, applied research and innovation that can be sustained for generations to come.”
The partnerships represented within the One Health Innovation District will help the biotech industry detect, prevent, and take action against threats to animal, human, and plant health. A One Health summit is planned to take place this fall in order to share what the collaborations can do and to draw in further partnerships.
For more information about Purdue University, visit the school’s website.