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Midtown Alliance and Georgia Tech Partner on Innovation District Initiative

Project seeks to create "live-work-play" lab centered around media technologies.

The Midtown Alliance recently announced a new partnership with Georgia Tech to expand and strengthen Midtown’s flourishing innovation district.

The Midtown Alliance-Georgia Tech partnership will work with local thought leaders on strategies to further strengthen Midtown’s technology infrastructure, create commercial real estate opportunities for entrepreneurs and highlight the sizeable array of innovation assets, activities and success stories that are happening now.   

The first phase will include the creation of a Live-Work-Play “Laboratory” for exploring the potential of media technologies and creating a climate for continual innovation. A vital component of the living laboratory will be the development of an open platform for experimental mobile applications designed to enrich the Midtown experience for those who work, live and visit here.

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Initial mobile apps using this platform will focus on areas that have a close nexus with the work of Midtown Alliance. This exciting partnership will explore areas including augmented reality tours of the district, apps to help users find parking and real-time public transportation options, and ways to gather community feedback loops for upcoming projects and initiatives.

“This partnership is a natural extension of our research in media, health and community-focused technologies that directly impact quality of life,” said Beth Mynant, executive director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for People and Technology, who will lead the laboratory activities. “The partnership will bring together the best of Georgia Tech’s inventive power and the innovation culture of Midtown Atlanta.”

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Applications will be tested and improved with public feedback; new participants and industry partners will be encouraged to use the open platform to develop applications that can be piloted in Midtown.

“Through this unique partnership with Georgia Tech, we will explore how to harness an array of new technology and tools to further enhance the user experience and buttress our city’s innovation assets,” Dennis Lockhart, chairman Midtown Alliance chairman said in a statement. “Midtown Alliance has been focused on making Midtown a more livable, walkable and vibrant district for a long time, through physical improvements, urban design and a range of programs to improve the physical environment.”

Kevin Green, Midtown Alliance’s CEO, noted successful innovation districts come from partnerships among higher education, business, entrepreneurs and government.

“Midtown today has an impressive array of innovation assets and activities concentrated in close proximity and in a vibrant urban district. This is the ‘power of place.’  As an organization focused on Midtown and our city’s continued progress, we want to leverage the success that is already happening here around technology innovation, help to connect the dots and grow it even further.”  

- The Georgia Institute of Technology contributed this story


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