Purdue University Northwest will give a boost to northwest Indiana entrepreneurs starting this fall through a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.
PNW’s program, called “Concept to Commercialization 2020” (C2C-2020), was one of only 44 nationwide—and the only one from Indiana—to win $386,000 in funding from the Regional Innovation Strategies Program’s FY19 i6 Challenge. 
The i6 Challenge is a national initiative designed to support the creation of centers for innovation and entrepreneurship that increase the rate at which innovations, ideas, intellectual property, and research are translated into products, services, viable companies and jobs.
CMEC, within the College of Technology, will house the C2C-2020 program. The program intends to serve hundreds of participants in the first two years from across seven counties in northwest Indiana, including Lake, Porter, La Porte, Newton, Jasper, Pulaski and Starke.
Participants will learn about start-up strategies, essentials of small business management, intellectual property and leadership.