New Innovation Center to Open at Discovery Park District
The Convergence Center at the Purdue Discovery Park District. (photo courtesy: Purdue)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Purdue Research Foundation has announced the establishment of the Experience Innovation Center, a facility designed to help technology developers rethink and reinvent products of the future, at the Discovery Park District.
The foundation says the XCenter will focus on exploring innovative approaches to how people interact and work with technology.
Purdue says it hopes the facility will become a regional, national, and international hub for product innovation through user and customer experience.
The foundation says the XCenter was the idea of Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of UEGroup, a product design firm in Silicon Valley.
“We all use technology every day, both at home and at work. It can be incredibly valuable to us, but it can also hold us back because it is too complicated to use or understand,” said Fernandes. “After decades with tech, things should have gotten better, but we seem to be sliding backward as technology gets more complex.”
He thinks collaboration between academia and industry is key to the successful launch of technologies in the years ahead.
In addition to doing corporate consulting work, XCenter will serve as a learning lab for undergraduate and graduate programs to receive real-world, hands-on educational experiences.
“The XCenter will provide our students with many opportunities to augment their classroom work with even more hands-on project work in user experience, customer experience, product design and more,” said Gary Bertoline, dean of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. “This state-of-the-art usability facility will enhance our students’ experience and help to build bridges to corporate partners and collaborators.”
XCenter is scheduled to open this summer.