Atlanta’s competitive advantages can help the whole region grow

Atlanta is booming. Driven by both its emergence as a leading high-tech and corporate center and regional demographic shifts, the growth curve has been sharp over the last decade, and that growth is flourishing around the state of Georgia as well. Ensuring sustained growth and prosperity requires a strategic approach to fostering educational and employment opportunities for all Georgians, whether that’s from high school, skilled trades, vocational schools, college or doctoral degrees. Georgia’s path to success lies in amplifying its unique strengths, differentiating itself from competitive states such as New York, Massachusetts and California.

Several distinctive features of the region are evident. Georgia and the Southeast are thriving in major global growth sectors such as manufacturing, batteries, automobiles, aerospace and energy. Georgia ranks No. 1 in terms of global corporate investments in the United States for energy manufacturing. This emerging multitrillion-dollar global market includes the production of batteries, solar panels, electric vehicles and hydrogen, and it is a critical component of the emerging regional southeastern “battery belt.” Georgia hosts the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere, and aerospace products are Georgia’s largest export. These industries, dispersed across both urban and rural areas, integrate everything from shopfloor fabrication to cutting-edge, high-technology industries, employing thousands of Georgians across diverse skill sets.