From materials distributed at (co)lab — A Collaborative Leadership Summit: Together we can create the great thinking and bold solutions the future demands in a way that none of us could achieve working independently.
Atlanta has all the makings for a successful world class innovation hub. Opportunity lives here. In fact, as the fifth-largest higher education center in the country, we have some of the brightest brains. So we thought we’d put them to work.
What worked yesterday, won’t work today, and will be obsolete tomorrow. This especially applies to how cities and companies attract and retain top talent.
There’s no doubt that Georgia’s educational system needs a positive dose of transformation. Roughly, only half of those that start high school, graduate.
In today’s fluid driven economy, people in fields like technology, design, architecture, marketing, arts and entertainment can help make a city more innovative and competitive. Some call these people the Creative Class. Others call them creators and innovators. We simply like to call them talented. And one of the biggest questions facing Atlanta’s future is how do we attract and retain more talented people?
In order to thrive in the global economy, cities and regions must attract and retain talent from outside their usual walls. This requires investments in infrastructure, quality of life, transportation (beyond the car) and walkable, livable communities for all ages.
Georgia is in the midst of a dropout crisis. The consequences to individual children, their families and communities, and to Atlanta constitute a modern social crisis.
From comments posted on a (co)lab website: "Figure out what our next Olympics is. A worldwide stage saw us and it required jobs and built infrastructure. What similar events/platforms enable us to bond, build, creative vision and be visible to the world?"
“Institute a mandatory American Dream class in every curriculum, for every class year in every school. Have elderly immigrants, immigrant entrepreneurs, illegal immigrant children whose families risked everything to get here to say, ‘Why?’ Every year!”
“Form a school vision committee consisting of the most liberal and conservative, rural and urban districts and areas so educational brainstorming leaves no one out when looking for economies of scale and points of regional leverage.”
