Forbes: Atlanta No. 3 U.S. city poised to become tech mecca (Boston: tech jobs, universities)

[Airforceguy]

“Craving relocation to the East Coast? Opportunities for Atlanta-based tech jobs, including software developer, software programmer, and computer support roles, have grown far more quickly than the national average,” the article reads. “Atlanta’s total tech jobs have grown by 46.7 percent since 2010 — almost 20 percentage points above the national average.”

The article gives a nod to three of the city’s startup hubs — Atlanta Tech Village, Switchyards Downtown Club and Advanced Technology Development Center — and two of the city’s universities —Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University — as a two of the main boosters of Atlanta’s tech boom.

Click here to view the full story from Forbes.

Atlanta Business Chronicle reported March 24 Comcast NBCUniversal will invest about $200 million in a tech startup “accelerator” in Atlanta.

Comcast’s initiative — dubbed The Farm — will be directed by Boulder, Colo.-based Boomtown. It is part of Comcast’s LIFT Labs for Entrepreneurs entrepreneurial support program and Boomtown’s first accelerator outside of Colorado.

Boomtown Executive Director Toby Krout said Atlanta was selected because it has a diverse community, a strong university system and a thriving arts culture.

“They’re all coming together as a perfect storm and when you bring in a tech company that we view as a startup that won like Comcast, it’s just a spectrum,” he said. “When you combine a company like Comcast that is building an amazing world-class facility right here surrounded by a community that is about ready to pop, it was perfect for us to come in.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/n...to-become.html

[Born 2 Roll]

This is a great development that Atlanta is being recognized as one of the nation's leading technological hubs.

[krogerDisco]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

This is a great development that Atlanta is being recognized as one of the nation's leading technological hubs.

We'll see. I've seen so many places being mentioned as the next "Silicon Valley", but nothing has been its match as of yet.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/n...to-become.html

Awesome.

[fieldm]

Great. It will help fill up the new highrises in Midtown

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by krogerDisco

We'll see. I've seen so many places being mentioned as the next "Silicon Valley", but nothing has been its match as of yet.

Yeah, that kind of rhetoric about places like the five cities highlighted in the article being showcased (including Atlanta) as "2017’s tech meccas looking to overthrow Silicon Valley" makes me uncomfortable as well.

Silicon Valley is so far out ahead in front of the rest of the country right now in technological activity that it makes no sense to even attempt to give the impression that any other city/metro even has a remote chance of overtaking Silicon Valley as a tech hub.

With that said, no city/metro has to be in (what is currently a completely unlikely) position to overtake Silicon Valley to be recognized as one of the nation's leading technology hubs.

Even with Silicon Valley so far out ahead in front of everyone else, being recognized as a rising tech hub is a really good thing for any community (including Atlanta) in this day and age because it means that a community is generating a strong stream of high-paying cutting-edge jobs and is attracting a large pool of talented young people to work them.

Being recognized as one of the nation's leading tech hubs also means that a community is attracting an extremely high amount of business investment (and investment capital) and is thriving in the modern economy.

[bu2]

An article that doesn't list Austin in its top 5 and puts Seattle #5 is hard to take seriously.

Those two are clearly the 2nd tier behind Silicon Valley.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by bu2

An article that doesn't list Austin in its top 5 and puts Seattle #5 is hard to take seriously.

Those two are clearly the 2nd tier behind Silicon Valley.

I get the omission of Austin since it's already a tech hub but Seattle is arguably a bigger one and made the list, which is very odd.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Great. It will help fill up the new highrises in Midtown

I thought they said they were doing this at Suntrust park.

But I guess it will still help Midtown. People have to live somewhere and Midtown would be an easy commute.

[krogerDisco]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I get the omission of Austin since it's already a tech hub but Seattle is arguably a bigger one and made the list, which is very odd.

It should also include Boston. Harvard and MIT are major influencers.