Innovation Crescent a strong regional voice for economic development

From Gwinnett Business Journal:

Now that the Innovation Crescent Partnership has formed, Georgia's Atlanta-to-Athens corridor hovers over its Ernst & Young ranking of seventh largest bioscience region in the nation, reaady to take off.

So, what's next? It's all about marketing and strength in numbers. The partnership pulls from 16 different economic development organizations across 13 counties, the power of several major research universities and some of the biggest business leaders on the planet.

In a recent interview with David Hartnett, vice president of regional partnerships for the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership, he spoke about three major focuses now that organization's board members are in place.

Targeting events
One of the key initiatives for the partnership is to attract bioscience events, forums and conferences to the metro Atlanta area. A major coups would be a conference such as AdvaMed, the one of the largest medical technology shows in the world for CEOs, business executives, policy-makers, financiers, industry stakeholders and media. The 2010 conference takes place in Washington, D.C. features and all-star lineup of presenters and will be attended by over 1,500.

"We have a lot of voice to go out and recruit events to get the exposure we need," said Hartnett, who also serves as the vice president of economic development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. "So it would make sense for our leadership to go out and solicit events that have never come to Georgia."

Speaking to us from a business recruiting mission in Israel, Hartnett was slated to meet later in the day with one of the largest medical device manufacturers in the world – a meeting that was set because Hartnett represented a region, not just one entity.

Leadership has recently traveled to India, and to Chicago for the 2010 BIO International Technology to represent Georgia's Innovation Crescent.
Growth and exposure

As a team, the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership will look to market the region not just to bring companies to the Crescent, but also to help grow the companies that are already here.

"A big piece of success is getting exposure for the young companies and young entrepreneurs that are here in the Crescent," said Hartnett. "We want to help them grow organically, perhaps by exposing them to venture capital or whatever it takes them to move their company from small to large."

Hartnett said that with funding, hard work and dedication, economic development from the bioscience companies in the region would spin out to others in the community such as attorneys, CPAs, financial institutions and others that support the industry. As well, it can bring thousands of jobs to the area.

Creating an event
Another focus that's on the agenda for the Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership is to create the organization's own event on a regional level.

Hartnett, who participated in similar regional models in San Diego and North Carolina, believes the Innovation Crescent can surpass these bioscience regions.

"If you look at what the Research Triangle has accomplished in 30 to 50 years, take that linear projection and think about the run rate," he says. "With what we've done with three years of focus – a short period of time – the Innovation Crescent is well on task to be one of the leaders in the nation."