Mayor Lurie Opens New Innovation Hub Bringing Leading Midwestern Universities To San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today celebrated the grand opening of Third Coast Foundry, a new innovation hub in San Francisco serving startups, researchers, students, and alumni from eight leading universities across the Midwest. The new site in South Park will bring students, researchers, and entrepreneurs from across the Midwest to the city—helping drive foot traffic and economic activity around downtown.

The opening of Third Coast Foundry builds on growing momentum in the city’s core under Mayor Lurie’s “Heart of the City” plan and his vision for a downtown where people live, work, play, and learn. Following a historic year of major events, record tourism projections, new business openings downtown, and continued investment in San Francisco, Mayor Lurie in January welcomed Vanderbilt University's plans to establish an academic campus in San Francisco beginning in 2027.

“Universities bring new ideas, new talent, and new energy to our city,” said Mayor Lurie. “Third Coast Foundry will create a home for collaboration between some of the nation's leading institutions in the global hub of technology and innovation. Word is getting out: San Francisco is the place to be.”

Third Coast Foundry is being launched as a two-year pilot supported by Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Located in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood, Third Coast Foundry provides a dedicated Bay Area home base for university-founded startups and teams traveling to the region. Designed to connect founders with investors, industry partners, and the broader innovation ecosystem, the collaborative space will host meetings, events, workshops, startup showcases, and other programming that strengthen ties between leading research institutions and the Bay Area.

“Third Coast Foundry is about creating new opportunities for university-backed founders and researchers from the Midwest to build relationships with investors and partners in the Bay Area,” said Samir Mayekar, Managing Director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago. “Our universities have deep research expertise, talented founders, and strong startup ecosystems. This shared San Francisco presence gives them another pathway to connect and grow. We appreciate Mayor Lurie and the City of San Francisco for welcoming this effort.”

“The Bay Area remains the global benchmark for innovation, entrepreneurship, and venture investment. Through Third Coast Foundry, Purdue is proud to join with fellow leading research institutions from across the Midwest to strengthen the connections between university innovation and the Bay Area's world-class ecosystem of founders, investors, and industry leaders,” said Brooke Beier, Senior Vice President of Purdue Innovates. “By establishing a presence in San Francisco, we hope to create new opportunities for collaboration, engage Purdue's extensive alumni network in the region, and help accelerate the translation of research and innovation into high-growth companies by connecting startups with the capital, strategic partners, customers, and resources they need to scale and succeed.”

Together, the partner institutions represent approximately $10 billion in annual research investment and a talent pipeline of more than 300,000 students.

The 3,467-square-foot workspace includes co-working areas, conference rooms, event space, and collaboration areas that will support investor meetings, startup showcases, workshops, seminars, and networking events. From its location in South Park, Third Coast Foundry sits steps from many of the world’s leading venture capital firms and within San Francisco’s growing artificial intelligence corridor.

“Today we celebrate the grand opening of the Third Coast Foundry in District 6! This is a place where creativity and collaboration will be unlocked, and it’s a perfect fit for the South Park community,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “Third Coast Foundry is a tremendous asset to the Second Street corridor, and I couldn’t be more excited to see the connections, ideas, and opportunities that will grow from this space.”

The collaborative, multi-university model gives startups a shared presence in San Francisco. By creating opportunities to connect with investors, customers, alumni, and strategic partners, Third Coast Foundry strengthens ties between the Midwest’s research institutions and San Francisco’s innovation ecosystem.

Since its soft opening in March, Third Coast Foundry has generated significant interest from founders, investors, alumni, and other partners, welcoming more than 1,000 visitors and event attendees through more than 20 events and activations. This week, Third Coast Foundry will host the Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day, where 40 startups will pitch to more than 200 investors. The hub also recently announced the AI Research Commons Midwest Fellows Program, which will provide additional resources and opportunities for affiliated startups.

Third Coast Foundry is managed and operated by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago and will serve as a shared resource for participating institutions, with each university contributing programming and community-building efforts throughout the pilot.

Third Coast Foundry sponsors include Cooley, JPMorgan, Wisconsin Economic Development, and World Business Chicago. It is additionally supported by a venture partner network, including Evergreen Climate Innovations, G2C Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, Lightbank, Omaxn, Jump Capital, Origin Ventures, and Portal Innovations.