Purdue Hosting ‘Ideas Lab’ For Ag Tech Research
The Ideas Lab aims to create teams and proposals to study new seed technologies.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPurdue University will play host to a three-day Ideas Lab this month. The goal of the event is to create interdisciplinary teams and research pre-proposals for new agricultural technologies in food security.
Researchers will look into the challenges of new seed technologies and the effects they will have on farmers, societies and ecosystems. Leigh Raymond, professor of political science at Purdue and director of Discovery Park’s Center for the Environment, says the use of any new seed technologies will have to deal with challenges posed by "complex and interconnected social, political, economic and scientific systems that both limit and facilitate the adoption of improved seeds."
"The Ideas Lab is designed to help us create innovative new interdisciplinary research pre-proposals and teams by the end of the three-day session," said Karen Plaut, senior associate dean for research for Purdue Agriculture. "Another goal is to create a new intellectual community that will leverage Purdue’s growing investments in the plant sciences and make the university a leader in understanding the social, political, and economic implications, challenges and opportunities for new seed technologies."
The event is being facilitated by British-based Knowinnovation and is being hosted by Purdue’s Center for the Environment and the College of Agriculture. Proposal ideas that emerge from the event and require initial results or other work before being submitted will be eligible for seed funding made available by the College of Agriculture.
The Ideas Lab will be held January 27-29 at the Wright Conference Center in West Lafayette. Anyone interested in attending can click here to register for the event.