Atlanta, Georgia, the largest city and the undisputed economic engine of the southeastern U.S., is internationally recognized for its leadership in the biosciences, with key strengths in medical devices, health information technology, vaccine development, and nanomedicine.
The host city for the world’s largest bioscience conference (BIO International) in 2009, Atlanta is the headquarters to internationally known institutions in medicine and public health, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation, the Yerkes Primate Center, the Carter Center, and the CARE international relief organization.
According to recent figures from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, more than 200 companies and organizations work in the area of medical devices, technology, and innovation, including research and development, commercialization, and manufacture of products used in patient diagnosis, therapy, or surgery. From industry pioneers like C.R. Bard, Kimberly-Clark, Elekta, Stryker, and CIBA Vision to innovative start-ups like CardioMEMS, metro Atlanta is home to a critical mass of companies, entrepreneurs, education, and research in the bioengineering and medical device industry. The metropolitan area also supports active memberships of the Southeastern Medical Device Association (SEMDA.net), Georgia Bio Life Sciences Partnership (GaBio.org), the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA.org), and the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GeorgiaCancer.org).
Beyond the 9 to 5
The Atlanta area is also recognized as a vibrant, exciting city with a youthful demography; a wide diversity of cultural activities, lifestyles, and neighborhoods; and a great sense of fun. Metro Atlanta is a first-run stop for movies and concert tours, home to quirky indie rockers and major sports teams, and a culinary hotspot for everything from Ethiopian restaurants to local brew-pubs and farm-to-table cuisine. Outdoor recreation is as close as the intown PATH bicycle and pedestrian trail system… or as secluded as the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, a protected greenspace and waterway curving along the city’s northwestern edge.
The Georgia Tech campus occupies a prominent site in the heart of midtown Atlanta only a few blocks from Piedmont Park. The green, modern campus is bounded on one side by the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company – and on the other side by the creative studios of Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting System, home to TNT, the Cartoon Network, and CNN.
To learn more about the sights and sounds of Georgia Tech’s home city, just take a look!
