Downtown Atlanta transformed into a buzzing tech playground last week as innovators, technology pioneers, business leaders and rising professionals came together to spotlight the future of technology and business in Atlanta.
RenderATL, which drives Atlanta Tech Week (ATW), spread across the city with 8,000 attendees and more than 15,000 participants for the flagship conference. The event partnered with 70 exhibitors spread over 250,000 square feet of tech space and featured numerous speakers and workshops. The partners include Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Google Cloud, IBM, Reddit and other significant industry players.
Avilon Bingham, the President of ATW, told Trending with Ms. Tre, “These events are about more than code — they celebrate culture, creativity and collaboration, showcasing the full Atlanta experience. From panels and fireside chats to the Silicon South Summit, attendees get a taste of what Atlanta is building — both inside and outside of the perimeter.”
Although this year’s event was expanded to massive numbers, it culminates 20 years of work.
Atlanta Tech Village (ATV), a startup platform, began in 2002 by David Cummings with the goal of expanding the city’s startup scene. To date, ATV has created over 10,000 jobs, helped establish more than 300 startups and raised more than $3.2 billion in capital.
Venture Atlanta, which started in 2007, helped expand ATV by providing a bridge between promising startups and investors. Venture Atlanta gave the opportunity to many ATV startups to pitch their businesses at a yearly conference and has helped several southeast startups gain visibility and funding.
COVID-19 catalyzed Atlanta’s rise as a tech hub as traditional industry leaders in New York and California slowed down. The pandemic, combined with the community created by Venture Atlanta and ATV, served as the foundation for the creation of RenderATL, beginning in 2020. Within two years, ATW was created to build on that vision.
Cassia Baker, Technology Project Manager at the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership, funded by Tech, described how this year’s event came together.
“It was very much a group effort across the city. There was a group on a planning committee, and everyone donated a lot of time and ideas. So many people shared resources, brought in people to provide expertise, and it was very much reflective of the Atlanta tech ecosystem- built from the ground up,” Baker said. “Then this year, all that hard work from years of work by the volunteers, the RenderATL and amazing Atlanta Tech team really paid off, and we saw people coming in from as far as the U.K. just to be at this one event, and they really got to see the city as the event was spread out all across the city.”
ATW had an economic impact of $20 million on the city’s infrastructure. Workshops included “Unlocking Early Stage Innovation for B2B Startups” with Cox Enterprises and “From Hype to How: Things That Make Gen AI Actually Work for Your Business” with Paul Zikopoulos, Vice President of IBM Technology Sales.
“We wanted to put together content that was relevant to today’s conversations around startup funding, or AI, or how does the city move to become a top five tech hub,” Bingham explained.
This year, they introduced the usage of headphones for each badge holder to combat the large audiences for each event. Attendees were able to listen to a talk of their choosing, even if the event hall was at capacity, by tuning into the channel on their headphones.
“Revitalizing Downtown: Tech, Innovation & The Future of Our City” with Jon Birdsong and Brian McGowan was moderated by Baker and discussed the city’s most ambitious revitalization development project in this generation.
“These developments aren’t just building buildings — they’re building the future of how people live, work, move and belong in Atlanta. The themes are innovation, leadership & the future of ATL. South downtown is what’s next in tech but it’s all happening now,” Baker stated.
“Powering the Future: The Future of Data, Infrastructure & the Environment in ATL” with Cynthia Curry and Mezu Ofoegbu, also moderated by Baker, focused on how Atlanta is preparing 13,000 STEM graduates for the workforce and what the industry might look like in the next decade.
“The panel highlighted how STEM education needs to start before traditional workforce ages – in K-12. Otherwise, it’s too late to see the impact you need. By the time you know what kind of workforce you want to develop, that ship may have already sailed,” Baker noted.
As the next generation begins to enter the tech landscape, events like RenderATL and ATW play a pivotal role in promoting the city not just as a tech hub but as a launchpad for future innovators.