Dow Agro to become Purdue research tenant

Officials of Purdue University and Dow AgroSciences unveiled a collaboration
Wednesday in which the Indianapolis-based company will become one of the largest tenants at the Purdue Research Park in West
Lafayette.

 

Dow Agro will occupy 15,000
square feet of research and office space in the newly built Herman and Heddy Kurz Purdue Technology Center.

 

The company, a division of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., also
will be the exclusive tenant of a 6,000-square-foot greenhouse complex to be constructed on the south side of Ross Enterprise
Center.

 

The Indiana Economic Development
Corp. will provide a $2.2 million grant to the Purdue Research Foundation to cover construction of the greenhouse research
center.

Dow Agro expects to hire up to 30 scientists and 18 contract
researchers, who will have the opportunity to collaborate with Purdue faculty and will have access to some campus research
facilities.

 

“The power of collaboration
with Purdue is immense, and the many elements of this project will bring great advancement to our biotechnology efforts,”
Antonio Galindez, president and CEO of Dow AgroSciences, said in a prepared statement. “Purdue Research Park is the
perfect setting to unleash the creativity of our scientists and advance science and technology.”

 

Dow Agro will join more than 160 companies already at the research
park.

 

The company has ramped up its research
efforts in recent months. In July, Dow Agro signed a 15-year lease for an 80,000-square-foot research-and-development building,
to be erected adjacent to its headquarters on the northwest side of Indianapolis.

 

Dow Agro plans to hire dozens of additional researchers there as well. The company currently employs
1,200 in Indianapolis.