Useful Ideas Workshops

Useful Ideas Workshops are the participatory side of Useful Ideas—a publication and project studio exploring how promising ideas become practical outcomes.

The publication documents projects, people, and possibilities. The workshops bring people together to examine ideas in progress, identify their potential, and determine useful next steps.

We bring together inventors, founders, designers, makers, entrepreneurs, and practical problem-solvers to explore promising ideas, unfinished projects, and stubborn challenges.

Our small, participatory sessions help members clarify what they are developing, who might value it, what obstacles stand in the way, and what the most useful next step might be. Some sessions center on participant ideas; others explore invention, product development, design, manufacturing, sustainability, emerging technology, extreme affordability, and the process of turning possibilities into practical outcomes.

This is not a pitch competition, lecture series, or referral-networking group. It is a place for thoughtful, constructive working conversations.
Bring an idea, a question, a project—or simply your ability to help someone else see a possibility more clearly.

Useful Ideas was created by David Alan Foster, a multidisciplinary designer, inventor, publisher, product developer, and venture builder who has spent decades helping ideas and the people behind them move forward.