Georgia Tech Research Corporation

The Georgia Institute of Technology (GATech) will lead a team of collaborators from across the city of Atlanta to undertake a research park feasibility study.  The target area encompasses approximately 60 acres on the Atlanta's Westside (Enterprise Park).  The study will assess the viability of expanding the footprint of an existing technology park founded by GATech in 2004.  The vision for Enterprise Park would be the interconnection of parcels of land owned by the project’s collaborators and supporters (GATech, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and the City of Atlanta, among others) to create a health and bioscience hub in this distressed part of the city.  This hub would be a location for startup companies emerging from the proximal universities (Emory University, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta, and Morehouse School of Medicine), for existing companies (CardioMems, Kemira, and CryoLife, among others) to expand their current operations without leaving the area, and for leading edge research and innovation enterprises (Global Center for Medical Innovation, Georgia Tech Research Institute).

The project will study the best practices Georgia Tech implemented in the development of the neighboring Technology Square, a flagship of innovation-led economic development success.  Critical elements of Technology Square—including engagement of research universities, public/private collaboration, live/work/play elements, and physical connections of industry and academia activities in one place—will be built into the feasibility study.  If developed in a similar manner, Enterprise Park will spur a monumental change in the contribution of the Westside neighborhoods to the city and its residents.  Using industry standards for economic impact calculations, this area has the potential to create thousands of jobs and deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in economic output.