As a vice-president of Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the questions I’m often asked is “How can we make Atlanta the next Silicon Valley?” So, for five years now, I’ve been wearing a badge like this one (below), highlighting that Atlanta is “not Silicon Valley.” Nor should it try and be. Atlanta offers something completely different, and if you’re a British tech company looking to set up a base in the US, the city could be the place for you.
In many ways, the city is an incubator. We are home to technology startups. We offer links to top technology researchers at world-class universities. And we remain a place for established companies to build stronger technology infrastructure.
A diverse pool of tech startups helped lead Georgia out of the recession, generating around 16,000 jobs (more than 20% of all new jobs) over the past two years.
Unlike the tight cluster of startups in Silicon Valley, Atlanta’s business hubs sprawl across the city. Young entrepreneurs are attracted to the skyscrapers surrounding Georgia Tech in Midtown, while businesses targeting financial services and digital marketing are buzzing in low-rise office buildings in Buckhead. And, in the northern suburbs, office parks surrounded by SUVs are home to established technology companies like IBM, Cisco, HP, and Dell — as well as startups, often founded by their former employees. This activity is encouraged by local business incubators.
The gossip app Yik Yak recently raised $62m from top-drawer venture capital firms. This is just one successful company spawned in the Atlanta Tech Village, a technology co-working facility that hosts well-attended entrepreneur events every day of the week.
And it’s not just homegrown companies that are transforming Atlanta’s technology scene. Atlanta’s market access, talent, and lifestyle have also attracted a steady stream of company relocations, from corporate behemoths to small startups like Soneter, Groundfloor, and Aerogility.
Don’t just take it from me – British companies in the state will tell you how they’ve made the most of Atlanta’s strengths. Take Aerogility – a UK tech company specializing in software to manage aviation fleets. After cutbacks on aviation in the UK, Aerogility decided to expand into the United States – the largest aviation market in the world. Chief executive Gary Vickers began looking for a US base. “One UK tech CEO told us that there are only two places in the US to open an office, Park Avenue or Silicon Valley. That didn’t sound very well informed to us.”
Having seen what Atlanta had to offer he opened the company’s US office here in 2011. “As well as the cost base and available talent pool, it is a very accessible place for us with an excellent airport. As Londoners we like the idea of flying in and jumping on the ‘Tube’ (MARTA transportation system) to our office and not waste time driving across the city.”
In Atlanta, there are 50 colleges and universities nearby with a pool of 250,000 students, so recruitment isn’t a problem. Entrepreneurial spirit is encouraged in our student population. The Atlanta University Center taps into successful entrepreneurial alumni as speakers and mentors – both for university students and for aspiring secondary students.
Silicon Valley is a technology monoculture; Atlanta is not. Small companies based in Atlanta can get direct access to decision makers at major players – we’re home to companies like Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and NCR, and we host the North American headquarters for both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
Lumense – which builds sophisticated chemical sensors from their home in Georgia Tech’s incubator – has made the most of this access. The Coca-Cola headquarters are less than a mile away and staff regularly meet with companies in the incubator to scout for promising new technologies. On finding out how Lumense could fit into their quality-control process, Coke led a $2.7m (£1.8m) financing round of the company in late 2013.
All these elements make Atlanta a great destination for British entrepreneurs. And beside, the weather is pretty good too.
Stephen Fleming is a vice-president at Georgia Institute of Technology
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