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When Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson began rattling off his university’s international credentials, it was hard to envision his opponents recovering.
And it’s not as though they were anyone to sneeze at: The Midtown Atlanta technology powerhouse was pitted against First Data, the world’s largest payment processing firm, and Incomm, a “company of firsts” that prides itself on its cutting-edge role in the prepaid category, including being the first company to put digital music on a physical iTunes card.
But having innovation centers from the likes of Delta Air Lines and ThyssenKrupp, students from 100-plus countries, and study-abroad programs, faculty exchanges and research partnerships dotting the globe made the university hard to compete with for an innovation honor at the Metro Atlanta Chamber‘s Global Impact Awards April 20. Georgia Tech also has campuses or logistics institutes in France, Singapore, China, Panama, Costa Rica and elsewhere.
As if to punctuate Dr. Peterson’s remarks, developers later in the same day unveiled plans to build Coda, a massive office complex built around high-powered computing that will enable more cutting-edge research and add an exclamation point to assertions that Midtown’s Tech Square district, centered at 5th and Spring streets in Atlanta, is becoming the city’s answer to Silicon Valley.
Now in their seventh year, the Global Impact Awards at the past few events have partnered with the Technology Association of Georgia to focus specifically on innovators. But that was simply the last award, the icing on the cake of a ceremony that had already doled out honors for global business growth, foreign investment and global partnership.
Hala Moddelmog, the chamber’s CEO and president, said in her early remarks that Atlanta is staking its claim as a global leader in some innovation-fueled industries such as mobility, financial technology and health care information technology. She cited the presence of an all-Atlanta booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which chose Atlanta a few years back as the host for its North American edition.
She acknowledged that headwinds against trade are growing stronger, but noted that a partnership with the Brookings Institution to help Atlanta firms export enabled local companies to attend Finovate, a financial technology conference in London, in February.
“Our obligation is certainly still there” to promote trade, she said, despite the fact that a stronger dollar and heated rhetoric on the campaign trail are making that proposition tougher.
United Parcel Service Inc. CEO David Abney, echoed that sentiment in a keynote speech, saying, “Trade isn’t getting a lot of love these days,” before pointing to examples of companies that the world’s largest package delivery firm has helped make more competitive by selling abroad.
Ms. Moddelmog also pointed out that the chamber is committed to welcoming foreign investors and helping ensure their long-term success. The state of Georgia, incidentally, points out that about 80 percent of job creation in the state comes from what economic developers call “existing industry” — current investors who choose to stay and expand here. Foreign investors often tend to bring higher-paying jobs in coveted sectors like manufacturing.
“We need very thorough aftercare for those companies when they come here,” Ms. Moddelmog said.
The foreign investment award winner provided a success story along those lines. Bauerfeind USA, which makes athletic braces, is a subsidiary of a German company that set up shop in Kennesaw more than 30 years ago. Last October, the company moved its headquarters to Midtown, continuing its three-decade engagement with Georgia.
Though not foreign-owned, airplane parts Aventure Aviation is expanding its Peachtree City footprint, largely fueled by the growth of its exports. Thanks to deals in places like Morocco, where it operates an office, Aventure recently purchased acreage next to its existing warehouse and headquarters to build a new base along with a shop where it will handle some repairs for customers instead of farming them out. The new building will swoop up like a plane’s winglet and include a protuding deck inspired by the parallel-wing aircraft the Wright brothers used in their first flights. In accepting the award, company President Zaheer Faruqi pointed to mentorship by UPS and assistance by the chamber and the state for the firm’s success.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport took home the global partner award, in 2015 having become the first ever airport globally to host 100 million passengers in a single year while at the same time retaining its title as the world’s most efficient airport.
Global Atlanta, this news service, and UK Trade & Investment, the United Kingdom‘s export and inbound business promotion arm, were also finalists in the category.
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