Chiang to receive award at TechPoint’s Mira Awards
INDIANAPOLIS (April 23, 2026) — Purdue University President Mung Chiang will be honored as the Indiana tech sector’s 2026 Trailblazer at the Mira Awards on Friday, April 24.
The Mira Awards gala, known as “The Oscars of Indiana Tech,” celebrate the state’s most innovative companies, entrepreneurs and leaders. The annual Trailblazer Award recognizes visionaries whose contributions have had a lasting and significant impact on Indiana’s technology ecosystem. Honorees are innovative leaders whose work strengthens the state’s competitiveness and fuels long-term economic growth.
Since becoming Purdue University’s 13th president in 2023, Chiang has positioned the institution as both an intellectual and industrial engine for Indiana’s rise as a national technology leader, linking discovery, delivery and talent at a global scale. His blend of deep technical expertise and public-policy experience continues to underpin Purdue’s expanding role in the global innovation ecosystem.
“Indiana’s future as a national leader in hard tech and artificial intelligence is driven by our ability to develop talent, translate research, scale innovation and access to capital,” said Eric Christopher, president and CEO of TechPoint. “President Chiang is doing all of those and beyond, by building a pipeline of homegrown talent and positioning Purdue, and our state, at the center of the global AI and semiconductor economy.”
Central to that strategy is what Chiang describes as hard tech in the heartland aligning advanced research with real-world application and workforce development. The Hard Tech Corridor, a 63-mile innovation belt connecting West Lafayette, LEAP and Indianapolis, brings together research, manufacturing and entrepreneurship into a unified ecosystem. The effort has helped drive billions in new capital investment and thousands of high-tech jobs, strengthening Indiana’s position in the national semiconductor and advanced technology landscape.
Purdue also has made significant investments in artificial intelligence and advanced computing infrastructure under Chiang’s leadership. The Rosen Center for Advanced Computing has expanded high-performance computing capacity to support data-intensive and machine learning research, while the Krach Institute is advancing AI policy initiatives that inform national and international conversations on responsible technology development.
Chiang’s discovery with delivery philosophy also has produced measurable academic and commercial results. Purdue reported record research expenditures exceeding $1 billion in 2026 and remains one of the nation’s leaders in patent production and startup creation. The College of Engineering, which Chiang previously led as dean, is now the largest top four engineering college in the United States, graduating more engineers and computer scientists than any American university.
Purdue’s talent pipeline is building the next generation of Indiana’s innovation economy. The university graduates more than 10,000 STEM students each year, with placement rates exceeding 90 percent. A growing number of graduates choose to remain in Indiana to work for companies such as Eli Lilly and Company, Cummins, Salesforce, and Infosys. The launch of Purdue University in Indianapolis in 2025 further integrates engineering and computing education in the heart of the state and supports continued growth in the digital workforce.
Purdue’s emergence as a key node in the global semiconductor and AI supply chain is increasingly recognized as a model for regional technology-driven economic growth, attracting national attention from industry and policymakers alike.
“President Chiang’s leadership is positioning Indiana to excel in the global digital economy by developing talent, accelerating innovation, and connecting research to real-world impact in our communities,” said Melina Kennedy, CEO of the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership. “Purdue’s targeted focus to ensure alignment across all sectors of our economy is one of the many reasons why Indiana is increasingly recognized as a national model for collaboration, capital attraction, and tech-driven opportunity.”
About TechPoint
TechPoint is the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership’s branded initiative for Indiana’s tech-powered ecosystem driving the digital economy through talent, innovation and community with the overall goal of making Indiana a leader in digital adoption. TechPoint works with public, private, and industry partners to strengthen the tech talent pipeline, enhance resource connectivity for enterprise organizations and startups alike, and elevate the industry by activating the community and amplifying stories of success. For more information, visit techpoint.org. Media Contact: Lara Beck, lara@beckcommunicationsgroup.com
