Building collaborative engagement
The Office of Business Partnerships at Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business creates and provides solutions to the business challenges of today and the future.
Dedicated Daniels School professionals streamline opportunities for industry partners and alumni to connect with students and faculty beyond the traditional classroom setting. The partnerships office helps companies solve business challenges through consulting-focused experiential learning projects across all business functions via course-based engagements or contracts with our centers.
Applying the power of data to serve industry needs is in the Office of Business Partnerships’ DNA. Moving beyond theory into real problem-solving is a call to action our office takes seriously. We understand organizations large and small face uncertainty, rapid technological changes and the continuous need to train employees and cultivate new talent.
Let’s get started, together.
TOP 8
Public University in the U.S.
QS World University, 2025
TOP 10
Most Innovative Schools in the U.S.
7 Years Running
U.S. News & World Report, 2025
BRANDS THAT MATTER
For the 4th year in a row, Purdue is the only university on Fast Company’s Brands That Matter list.
There are so many ways we can work together to create and nurture a rewarding partnership that benefits your organization. Explore the opportunities that make up the core of a strategic partnership with Purdue and the Daniels School.
Enhance your organization's leadership capacity by investing in their development through a residential, online or hybrid degree program, certificate courses or a custom offering.
Collaborate with our centers of excellence and expert faculty researchers to gain access to top thought leadership.
Develop future team members while filling your most challenging positions. Your next hire could be that talented intern, a stellar full-time candidate or a transformational executive you meet through a tailored recruitment strategy designed for your company.
Join forces with our expert faculty and top students to create a consulting project that will define and test solutions for your pain points.
Drive industry and academic innovation through board membership, mentoring, guest lectures and curricular guidance.
This innovation hackathon challenged first-year IBE and Industrial Design students to improve accessibility in public spaces. In partnership with a corporate sponsor, student teams applied design thinking to develop concepts for smarter, safer public doors and entrance systems. The goal was to create inclusive solutions that allow individuals with disabilities to access public spaces independently and with dignity, reducing feelings of vulnerability.
In 2024, the company launched a workforce plan to prepare for the future needs of its organization. One area identified for further exploration is understanding the characteristics of high-performing team members in a key customer-facing role. The company is seeking support from Purdue University IBE students to conduct a study that will inform future hiring and development efforts for this role, ultimately helping attract and retain top talent.
The industry partner heavily relies on external suppliers for critical IT and operations services. The performance and reliability of these suppliers can significantly impact the industry partner's operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and overall organizational success. Ensuring the quality and risk assessment of these suppliers is paramount to the industry partner.
Procurement lacks resources or tools to manage supplier risks and relies heavily on manual activities. The function also lacks a balanced scoring matrix to proactively manage supplier risk and relationships.
IT and operations services spends ~$1b annually across 2,300 suppliers (Tier 1: 36 suppliers with $0.7b spend, the remainder Tier 2-4)
The industry partner is seeking a comprehensive and data-driven model to build an IT and operations supplier risk qualification and evaluation model.
Academic and industry partnerships bring together the best of industry-specific and cutting-edge business knowledge to craft new and innovative ideas.
Mike Pettit
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Wabash
Read the full story about our collaborative partnership with Wabash.
When we explore different avenues through what the students help us understand, that opens up new ways of solving the problems that we face.
Dave Teeter
Vice President of Talent and Organizational Effectiveness, Wabash
What's really impressed me is [the students are] clearly getting a lot of training very early on. They’re well prepared for what's going to be required of them as they move from the academic world into the business world.
Michael Day
Executive Director, Engine Business Segment, Off-Highway Finance, Cummins
