Unlock the Future of Agrifood Innovation at Purdue DIAL Ventures Strategic Opportunity Workshop
🌱 What: Purdue DIAL Ventures Strategic Opportunity Workshop
📅 When: September 29–30, 2026
👥 Who: Agrifood business leaders who will benefit from development in customer discovery and the innovation process.
📍 Where: Beck Agricultural Center, 4550 US 52 West, West Lafayette, IN 47906 (5 miles NW of the Purdue's campus)
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The Purdue DIAL Ventures Strategic Opportunity Workshop is an invitation-only working session that brings together leaders from across the food and agriculture value chain to turn industry insight into action. Innovation Fellows present what they've learned from weeks of customer discovery across the value chain, and the room goes to work — challenging assumptions, validating opportunities, and helping shape which problems are worth building companies around.
This is not a conference. Through interactive working sessions and cross-sector collaboration with peers, Purdue researchers, and the DIAL Ventures team, attendees leave with a sharper read on where agriculture and food are headed and a direct hand in what gets built next.
Workshop Session Agenda
Tuesday, September 29
11:30 AM – Check-in (pick up your badge and breakout group)
12:00 PM – Lunch, followed by the welcome and Fellow introductions from Jarrod Sutton
1:30–5:00 PM – Four 45-minute breakout discussions on the Strategic Opportunity Areas. Groups rotate between rooms, with a short break between sessions.
5:00 PM – Reception, then dinner at 6:00 at The Lawrence (about 10 minutes from Beck)
Wednesday, September 30
7:30 AM – Breakfast; day-two welcome at 8:00
8:30 AM–12:00 PM – Four more breakout discussions
12:00 PM – Lunch and keynote: AI Solutions in Agrifood by Dan Maycock, CTO, Dataplai
1:15 PM – From Opportunity to Venture by Dr. Allan Gray: how your input moves toward Pitch Day
2:00 PM – Workshop concludes
Contact Donna Steele at steeledl@purdue.edu for more information.
Key Benefits
A clearer view of where the industry is headed — findings straight from the field, spanning the entire value chain rather than a single segment.
Firsthand insight from Innovation Fellows — hear directly from the entrepreneurs who have spent weeks meeting with producers, agribusinesses, food companies, technology providers, and researchers to identify the industry's most important problems.
Influence over what comes next — validate opportunities and help shape the development of new companies before they're built.
Cross-sector collaboration — working sessions built around a curated cross-section of the agrifood system, including suppliers, customers, and peers you wouldn't otherwise be in a room with.
Perspective you can use — the sessions consistently produce the moment where someone says "I hadn't thought about that before," about a problem they've been living with for years.