This week at Idea Foundry we are ready to welcome Chinese visitors on the city’s first non-stop charter flight from Shanghai to Pittsburgh. This flight is the culmination of months and even years of hard work between partners: VisitPittsburgh, the Pittsburgh International Airport, Idea Foundry and our Chinese partners CAISSA Touristic and China Eastern Airlines.

After our first application, evaluation, and enrollment periods, our inaugural cohort of 5, representing three African-American and two Immigrant entrepreneurs, are now participating in our program. Just as the entrepreneurs in this cohort are diverse, so too are their businesses, from a financial literacy program to a solution to local office supply needs.

Idea Foundry has selected and enrolled 5 participants in its inaugural Equitable Entrepreneurship program cohort, representing three African-American and two Immigrant entrepreneurs.

Through a historic partnership between Idea Foundry, The Pittsburgh International Airport, VisitPittsburgh, Caissa Touristic, and China Eastern Airlines, China Eastern will offer a seasonal nonstop charter flight between Shanghai and Pittsburgh, the first nonstop flight between Pittsburgh and China, starting August 1st.

Idea Foundry met with key organizations in Chile’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem,including the U.S. Embassy, the Chilean government, accelerators, universities, and entrepreneurs themselves. The objective for this Reverse Exchange trip was to explore opportunities for partnerships to foster the transfer of innovation, business, and talent between Pittsburgh and Chile, and vice versa.