Is Georgia’s Innovation Crescent the new Triangle?

Move over North Carolina Research Triangle. Georgia is on the brink of becoming one of the biggest bioscience centers in the world. The state’s relatively new Innovation Crescent – a 13-county swath of vibrant science community between Atlanta and Athens – represents the future of things to come.

The real story here is that collaboration can be a beautiful thing. The far-reaching effects of cooperation have been seen for the last 50 years through the efforts of North Carolina civic leaders, high-tech companies, research facilities and universities that came together with a vision in the 1950s to create The Research Triangle.

Leaders in Georgia began collaborating several years ago to market the science corridor that stretches from Atlanta to Athens. In 2008, the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership (ICRP) formed to boost economic development for the life science industry, attract companies, create jobs and establish the region as a unique life science hub.

Containing more than 95 percent of Georgia’s life science assets, Innovation Crescent was conceived by regional leaders from chambers of commerce and economic development organizations including Georgia Bio Organization, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Development Authority, Athens-Clarke County, Barrow County, Clayton County, Cobb County, DeKalb County, north Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Jackson County, Madison County, Morgan County, Oconee County, Ogelthorpe County and Walton County.

“Any time you have public and private entities come together across county lines in a region like this, it provides a united front and automatically gives you an advantage,” said Nick Masino, Gwinnett Chamber vice president of economic development. “Instead of competing against each other, we are working together. As Georgia’s Innovation Crescent begins to build a reputation, we’ll start seeing more and more life science companies join the cluster of those that are already in the area.”