With Thanksgiving tomorrow, family and friends will be gathered around dinner tables (much like our Idea Foundry family gathers together for team lunches like in the picture above). This week we would like to take a moment to reflect on 5 things we are thankful for.

1. Our Team: From collaborating on projects to team lunches to our weekly yoga sessions, it's good to be in the Idea Foundry family. We are small in number, but we represent countries from around the globe and many different backgrounds of specialty. Because of our diversity, working and chatting together is always a fun learning opportunity.

2. Our Partners: In addition to those working directly in the Idea Foundry team, we have the pleasure to work with organizations and individuals all across Pittsburgh and Southwestern PA. Building relationships is one of the main tools that Idea Foundry uses to push forward our mission and we couldn’t do what we do without our supporters.

3. Bridges: No, it’s not just because we live in Pittsburgh and probably couldn’t get to work without them. Don’t get us wrong, we are thankful for those physical bridges, but we are most thankful for the figurative bridges that we are building here. We don’t like boundaries to get in the way of innovation, impact, or economic development so we like to make bridges across fields, sectors, nations, and schools of thought. These bridges are what define Idea Foundry.

4. New Ideas and the Passion that Goes With Them: Maybe it sounds cheesy, but working with innovators, entrepreneurs, and impact-drivers (or a combination of all three!) is inspiring and it makes our work exciting. The opportunities truly are endless and we genuinely exploring them - whether they be for a startup entering our accelerator or a partnership in the making. It is what keeps Idea Foundry moving forward.

5. Our City: Our main focus is job creation and local economic development, so having a city we are proud of validates our mission. It’s fulfilling for us to support growth in a city that we love, and we hope it is obvious that we love Pittsburgh.

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