In January 2024, the Boston Consulting Group released a report that offered guidelines on how to turn Atlanta into a top tech hub in the U.S.

Peachtree Corners recently proved it has become an instrumental piece to reaching that goal after hosting the kickoff event of this year’s Atlanta Tech Week, which took place June 8–13.

Atlanta Tech Week is an offshoot event of RenderATL, one of the largest tech conferences in the country. While RenderATL takes place at the Americas Mart, Atlanta Tech Week is a full week of events held in multiple locations throughout metro Atlanta, including Peachtree Corners, Brookhaven, Midtown and Downtown.

Kicking off the week in Peachtree Corners

To get things started, Atlanta Tech Park in Peachtree Corners hosted an all-day conference on June 8 that catered toward tech companies and entrepreneurs who live outside the I-285 perimeter.

“We’re on a mission to make Atlanta a top-five tech hub, and the big focus for us has been uniting the entire Atlanta tech ecosystem,” said Avoilan Bingham, president of Atlanta Tech Week. “We’re proud to kick things off here in Peachtree Corners because it’s an ideal spot — outside the perimeter; there’s so much talent that lives in and around Peachtree Corners.”

“What makes Atlanta Tech Week special is that it showcases what’s unique about each individual neighborhood that’s an innovation hub,” he continued. “Peachtree Corners can tell a unique story about innovation, growth and entrepreneurship.”

That story includes the development of Atlanta Tech Park and Curiosity Lab, which have attracted numerous tech companies to the area. They’ve also laid the foundation of Peachtree Corners’ journey toward becoming a leading smart city with its wireless 5G environment, autonomous shuttles and solar roadway.

A day of workshops and networking

The event featured numerous tech workshops throughout the day, including one in which Atlanta Tech Park, Curiosity Lab and other innovation centers in metro Atlanta could showcase the technology coming from the companies they host.

“It gives entrepreneurs and startups an opportunity to see what’s happening outside the perimeter,” said Nashlee Young, director of business operations at Atlanta Tech Park. “We’re excited for people to see the technology that’s going on in the area and bring more visibility to Peachtree Corners and what we’re all about.”

Young said over 1,100 people attended the kickoff event with hundreds more applying for a waitlist.

“It keeps growing,” she said. “The number of people we’ve got registered today shows that more people want to get out in front of others and connect.”

Valerie Chang, managing director of Curiosity Lab, said the success of the event shows how much the area has recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of the office space in the area went unused.

“There was a fear about whether it would build back up,” Chang said. “We put a lot of work into revamping this area and reinvesting in The Forum and making it appealing to people who work out here. It’s a huge part of Peachtree Corners’ vision to be a leader in innovation. This feels like a full-circle moment. To kick off Atlanta Tech Week here this year is very meaningful to us.”

Tech and innovation outside the perimeter

As more and more companies seek to open offices and headquarters in Atlanta and more entrepreneurs create startups, Chang said if they look beyond Downtown and Midtown, they’ll find multiple suburbs that can meet their needs. Peachtree Corners, for example, offers the 5G ecosystem at no cost and a city government that supports startups.

“When it comes to building a tech hub, don’t count any city out of the conversation,” Chang said “We put a lot of work toward recruiting companies to come here and showing off what Peachtree Corners has to offer. We’re more than just a suburb. We’re an innovative tech community.”

For more about Atlanta Tech Week, visit atl.tech.

To learn more about Atlanta Tech Park, visit atlantatechpark.com.

The fortunate 200 or so attendees of the opening of the Georgia Tech Atrium at Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners can say they witnessed a significant bit of history. The ceremony highlighted a decade-long partnership between the Georgia Institute of Technology and the city of Peachtree Corners and introduced one of the university’s new global initiatives.

Led by the Center for 21st Century Universities at the Georgia Tech College of Lifetime Learning, each GT Atrium will offer a space for the institute’s faculty, staff, students, alumni and partners to advance their academic and professional interests in the country or region that it serves.

Designed to foster hands-on student research, industry collaboration and technology breakthroughs, they will provide tailored programs, event space, a study abroad base, co-working and co-learning spaces and opportunities to engage and associate with Georgia Tech.

The opening of the GT Atrium in Peachtree Corners is the first of many planned collaborations to come between the school and municipalities throughout the state.

“The Georgia Tech Atrium at Curiosity Lab represents the future of higher education — where learning extends beyond the classroom and where broad community collaboration creates novel opportunities and advances,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera.

“This initiative proceeds from a concerted strategy to extend Georgia Tech’s reach, expand access to our resources and expertise and build connections that benefit students and advance research. We’re proud to partner with the City of Peachtree Corners to bring this vision to life.”

Key points

Key points of the event included the Atrium’s role in fostering innovation, upskilling and community engagement. Through this and other initiatives, Georgia Tech aims to double its degree awards and enhance its research impact.

The atrium will offer professional education, K-12 programs and networking opportunities.

The project aligns with the state’s economic development goals, having created 193,000 jobs and $90 billion in investments since 2019.

The event concluded with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, emphasizing the significance of the Atrium in Georgia’s innovation ecosystem.

A collaborative project

With Gov. Brian Kemp, his wife Marty Kemp, Peachtree Corners Mayor Mike Mason, Ga Tech President Ángel Cabrera, Georgia state Rep. Scott Hilton-R, Peachtree Corners and many other politicians and dignitaries present, Gov. Kemp made a point of thanking local Georgia Department of Economic Development board member Jose Perez for his hand in bringing the project together.

“And I just want to thank Jose Perez — you’re a great champion,” he said. “We appreciate your leadership and your friendship. You know this pro-business environment that we have is essential to Georgia’s success, and it’s why we’ve been named the number one state in the country for business for 11 consecutive years.”

A resident of Peachtree Corners, Perez is the retired President of Target Market Trends, Inc. (TMT), a consulting firm he founded in 2002 to help clients develop market strategies. He also spent 25 years at BellSouth in various management roles and worked as an international consultant with Gartner, Inc.

From 2004 to 2011, he served on the Board of Education and held leadership positions with the National Association of State Boards of Education and the State Charter School Commission.

About Georgia Tech

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.

The institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts and sciences degrees, as well as professional development and K-12 programs for fostering success at every stage of life.

Its more than 53,000 undergraduate and graduate students represent 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 143 countries. They study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world and through distance and online learning.

As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry and society.

For more about the GT Atrium at Peachtree Corners, visit atrium.gatech.edu/peachtree-corners.

Gallery photos of the event courtesy of Curiosity Lab

Curiosity Lab and Opsys showcased the technology live at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona

The City of Peachtree Corners — one of the nation’s first smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G — recently collaborated with Opsys, developer of the world’s most advanced pure solid-state scanning LiDAR sensor, to launch and deploy the company’s Advanced LiDAR Technology Opsys Sensors (ALTOS) Gen 2 LiDAR at Curiosity Lab.

This marks Opsys’ first real-world deployment of the ALTOS, the company’s first deployment with a municipality and the company’s first deployment in the United States.

The ALTOS Gen 2

As a pure solid-state LiDAR, the ALTOS Gen 2 has no moving parts, enabling best-in-class performance with high resolution and extreme reliability with a 4D point cloud from the device’s specific field of view.

The pure-solid state characteristics make the unit more robust, avoiding mechanical failures associated with moving components and allowing the unit to have 24/7 operation and pass a 50g shock and full vibration test. The ALTOS Gen 2 brings a simple, customizable design to market that can be used for different applications and unique shapes with a low-power consumption, without sacrificing performance.

“The ALTOS Gen 2 represents the future of smart city technology,” said Rafi Harel, chief executive officer of Opsys. “This collaboration with Peachtree Corners and Curiosity Lab gives us the unique opportunity to showcase the reliability and efficiency of our pure solid-state LiDAR technology in a real-world environment, which will soon improve safety and traffic management for cities across the globe.”

“As our first real-world deployment and first U.S. deployment, we are looking forward to working with Peachtree Corners as our test and demo site to then launch into the U.S. market,” he continued.

Flexible design and cutting-edge technology

Opsys’ new technology boasts a higher partial differential equation (PDE) and a larger array than other models, which gives the unit improved detection range and a higher resolution of objects. The improved optics reduce unwanted light, while improving uniformity and enhancing illumination. In addition, the unit’s optimized ASIC/processor allows for advanced processing of data, as well as lower power dissipation and cost.

“Opsys’ technology was extremely easy to calibrate and deploy in our city,” said Brandon Branham, executive director of Curiosity Lab. “The simple, yet flexible design made it easy for set up, without the need of special custom cables or proprietary connectors. The device behaves like a normal network device which also made it easy for us to integrate into our single-pane-of-glass, smart city management systems.”

“By adding this cutting-edge technology into our infrastructure, we’re able to enhance safety and operational efficiency for our community while showcasing scalable solutions that other cities and industries can easily adopt,” Branham added.

Location and Details

The ALTOS Gen 2 LiDAR units are deployed in the City of Peachtree Corners at the intersection of SR 141 and Town Center Boulevard. Here, the ALTOS Gen 2 units provide precise, real-time data on traffic flow and pedestrian movements, offering significant enhancements to urban safety and traffic management.

Its ability to operate continuously while supporting PoE (power over ethernet) and auxiliary power make it adaptable for different municipal implementations and ideal for use across various industries including intelligent traffic systems (ITS), smart factories, robotics and public safety applications such as perimeter security and healthcare.

 Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona

Opsys debuted the technology at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona November 5-7 in the Curiosity Lab booth. This included a demo with live LiDAR feed from the Peachtree Corners intersection. Representatives of Curiosity Lab and Opsys were also available for interviews at Booth D40 Hall 3 in the USA Pavilion.

For more information about Opsys, visit opsys-tech.com.

For more about the City of Peachtree Corners, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

To learn more about Curiosity Lab, visit curiositylabptc.com.