An ever-changing experiment

 

With its origins in a conversation between Wieden+Kennedy, the largest privately held creative advertising agency in the world, and the Portland, Oregon, startup community, the Portland Incubator Experiment — known more commonly as PIE — has become an ongoing experiment designed to enable established organizations — corporations, government, and educational institutions, among others — to more effectively collaborate with startup communities in mutually beneficial ways. Throughout its history, PIE has served as a curated coworking space, a community event space, a startup accelerator, a flashpoint for corporate innovation, an accelerator for accelerators, and a home-away-from-home for startup types — and the startup curious — from around the world. It's all part of testing how startups, brands, and others can collaborate without killing each other.