Greater Lafayette is where ideas turn to action, imagination gains ambition, hard work drives innovation. The smartest parts of business are created, commercialized, and applied here.
Stories of individuals, businesses, and organizations making a greater impact in Greater Lafayette.
This year marks the 95th anniversary of Kirby Risk Corporation, founded in 1926 when J. Kirby Risk borrowed $500 from his father and joined Otto Keiffer to open the Keiffer-Risk Battery Company in a small, abandoned blacksmith shop in Lafayette. Keiffer left the company within the year and was replaced by George Tweedie. The company became Risk-Tweedie Electric Service, and Risk was able to repay his father that $500 loan.
Simply put, the PRF’s mission is focused on improving the world through its technologies and graduates.
Innovation Story
Driving Force: Subaru of Indiana Automotive
SIA is woven into the community’s fabric, churning out cars, jobs, customers and community service at a time when some automobile manufacturers are struggling to keep the lights on.
The Lafayette plant is Subaru’s only manufacturing facility outside of Asia and currently employs more than 6,000 associates, of which more than 5,000 work in production. When the plant opened in 1989, associates built the Subaru Legacy and Isuzu Pick-up. In the years that followed, SIA continued to produce Subaru models in addition to other vehicles, including the Isuzu Rodeo, Honda Passport and Toyota Camry.
Since June 2016, the plant has exclusively produced Subaru vehicles. Current cars rolling off the assembly line here are the Ascent, Impreza, Legacy and Outback models for North America.
Enterprise Zone Credits
real property tax abatements
personal property tax abatements
Fastest Growing City in Indiana
First for Quality of Government in Indiana
First In Infrastructure upgrades in the U.S.
Greater Lafayette is a community connected to the world. Central Indiana is known as the Crossroads of America for good reason. You can easily access major cross country interstates, passenger rail, freight railroads and other major highways, and airports.
We have immediate space available for your business. If you want to start from scratch, we have certified shovel-ready sites you can begin building on immediately. Whether you are new to our community, scaling your existing business, or just getting started, we have move-in ready spaces. Be it a warehouse, industrial, Class A office, wet lab, business incubator, or lower-cost coworking space, we will help you find the right location for your business.
RESOURCES
The Tippecanoe Arts Federation (TAF) serves as a regional arts partner, one of 11 in the state.
When Lafayette native Brittany Whitenack started making candles in her spare time, she had no idea that in five years, she would be the founder and CEO of a thriving company on the verge of expansion.
Small Business Saturday is a national movement launched in 2011, designed to get shoppers into smaller locally owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Greater Lafayette has talent for every venture. Whether you need resilient engineers, advanced manufacturing technicians, or hard working support staff, the right people for your business call our community home.
Stories of individuals, businesses, and organizations making a greater impact in Greater Lafayette.
For the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration, that common focus is providing space and resources for academic research and private industry to collaborate, with the goal of seeing discoveries and innovations regularly make it out of the laboratory and into the world.
For the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration, that common focus is providing space and resources for academic research and private industry to collaborate, with the goal of seeing discoveries and innovations regularly make it out of the laboratory and into the world.
Innovation Story
Built so they would come, Purdue University-affiliated Discovery Park District landed Swedish-based Saab as a major aeronautic manufacturing facility in May. It’s a perfect match.
When companies come, they feel the sincerity of our local leaders. They experience how truly collaborative we are. They see the quality of our existing workforce and our commitment to developing it further. They learn about the expertise available and the bright young minds being turned out by our world-leading educational institutions. When you combine all that with the affordability of our great quality of life, it makes our community among the most compelling of places to consider locating a business.
We believe in building up a better community. That means listening to our people, thinking critically about our decisions, and never accepting less than great.
For those living here now and for those who will create the fabric of our community’s future, we cannot settle for “good.” The same innovation and creativity that drive our industry must be channeled into the people, places, and things that make Greater Lafayette greater.
That’s why we’re committed to the continuous process of evolving from good to great. This report created in 2012 outlines the strides we’ve taken and the ones we commit to carrying forward in the future.
Join us in making Greater Lafayette greater.
As a family-friendly community bursting with opportunity, Greater Lafayette welcomes our nation’s veterans. To make the transition into our community as seamless as possible, our Veteran Attraction Task Force—made up of local veteran industry leaders—works to create a welcoming community for the bravest members of our country.
Our Welcome Home program is a concierge service for veterans and their families relocating to Greater Lafayette. We create support groups at large businesses, assist families with any need they have while integrating into our community, and help veterans connect with local schools, churches, realtor partners, and additional military transition services.
RESOURCES
There’s life and light, color and sound in this space, and throughout many community centers in Greater Lafayette. This is a community at work.
They build the roads. They construct the houses. They care for the elderly. They put out fires. They keep your car running. They are the thousands of Tippecanoe County residents who make a living in industry and trade professions…
For the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration, that common focus is providing space and resources for academic research and private industry to collaborate, with the goal of seeing discoveries and innovations regularly make it out of the laboratory and into the world.
