The Metro Atlanta Chamber and some of its biggest corporate names plan to announce a task force Thursday to sell the region as a tech capital for the Internet of Things.
IoT.ATL, or Internet of Things Atlanta, is a task force corporate executives whose mission will be to recruit startups and established companies in the field to invest in Atlanta, grow talent here and raise the region’s profile as hub for IoT and “smart cities” programs.
In addition to creating jobs and recruiting venture capital, the aim is also to eventually influence policy to make the region more attractive to IoT companies.
What is IoT? It’s when complex machines and devices you use every day are all connected to the Internet and talk to each other, share data and even analyze it. A Fitbit, intelligent thermostats and smartphones might be the way most people have been introduced to IoT.
Simply put, IoT has the potential to revolutionize the way people live and work the same way computers have.
Chamber President and CEO Hala Moddelmog called IoT innovation “one of the key industry sectors emerging as the next frontier for business.”
The chamber, she said, is committed to growing what she called a critical sector of the regional economy.
The metro area is becoming a hub of IoT, and the chamber and state Department of Economic Development wants the world to know about it. IoT.ATL will aid that marketing message.
The launch of IoT.ATL comes as a chamber delegation and dozens of Atlanta area tech companies are in San Francisco for the influential GSMA Mobile World Congress Americas convention.
Metro Atlanta is home to GE Digital, the digital hub of the industrial giant, and other IoT-related tech centers from such corporate giants as AT&T and Honeywell.
It’s in smart city technology and intelligent transportation and logistics that the chamber and consulting partner Accenture say the Atlanta area has an advantage in recruiting IoT talent and investment.
AT&T Smart Cities General Manager Mike Zeto will be the chairman of the group, and co-chairs include GE CIO Jim Fowler, Weather Company CEO Cameron Clayton and Jim Bailey, senior managing director of Accenture Digital.
“It’s a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity in the United States,” Bailey said. “Many cities are looking at how they can best capitalize on that opportunity.”
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