In a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday morning, government officials and business leaders from around the state of Georgia marked the opening of global consultancy firm Accenture’s Atlanta innovation hub. The hub takes up an entire floor of the Centergy building in Midtown Atlanta’s Tech Square, an area that contains 20-plus corporate innovation centers within a square mile.
Accenture first announced the new innovation hub in mid-2017 as part of a $1.4 billion-dollar technology innovation commitment to increase their total workforce by 30 percent, forming 15,000 new jobs.
The Atlanta hub will employ 800 by 2020.
Accenture officials present at the opening included Jimmy Etheredge, the lead of Accenture’s Atlanta office and all its Southeast regional operations, and Julie Sweet, Accenture’s North America CEO.
Governor Nathan Deal, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson also gave remarks.
All mentioned the impact that Accenture’s contributions to workforce training had already made in the local community. These include apprenticeships for both traditional and non-traditionally-educated individuals, sponsoring a tech academy at the City of Refuge on Atlanta’s westside, and helping launch Georgia Tech’s new online Masters in Data Science, which is helping make technology education more attainable and affordable.
“We expected 700 students to enroll [in the Data Science online masters],” said President Peterson at the ceremony. “Last year, we enrolled 1,200.”
Employees at the hub will work with cutting-edge technologies like AI, blockchain, drones, computer vision, and virtual/augmented reality to solve challenges for their clients.
The 30,000-square-foot hub contains meeting space, several collaborative areas, a kitchen, relaxation rooms and more. It’s intended for use by both Accenture employees and the firm’s clients, providing them close access to the emerging technologies being incubated at Georgia Tech and in Tech Square.
Check out the rest of the innovation hub below.
