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- Cynthia Curry is the director of good metropolitan areas for the Metro Atlanta Chamber in Atlanta, Ga.
- Her staff aims to raise financial improvement and make the town additional equitable for all people.
- Initiatives she’s included with consist of making EV infrastructure and addressing systemic racism.
- This short article is aspect of a collection focused on American cities building a far better tomorrow known as “Advancing Metropolitan areas.”
Atlanta’s inhabitants is growing as it will become just one of the fastest-developing tech hubs in the nation. As the director of smart cities for the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC), Cynthia Curry is focused to strengthening the region’s tech ecosystem in the hopes of boosting economic improvement and producing the town a lot more equitable for all citizens.
Curry, who’s lived in Atlanta for more than 35 several years and worked for MAC for 5 years following having volunteered for the firm for numerous many years, spends her times fostering connections and collaborations amid organizations, regional governments, civic leaders, and educational establishments. Her job requires helping existing businesses increase and attracting new financial investment and talent in the 29-county Atlanta metro region.
“We make positive that the teams that are doing work on equivalent jobs or that have collective aims get to know one one more,” Curry claimed. “We are breaking down silos and connecting providers and assets so that they can collaborate and appear up with shared answers and create new public-personal partnerships.”
Curry said sensible-metropolis engineering, these types of as electric automobiles, is more critical than at any time “to make an equitable, resilient, sustainable region” for future generations.
“Clever-town engineering can resolve practically nearly anything, and we’re leveraging that below in various strategies,” she claimed, from community basic safety and drinking water preservation to squander and targeted visitors administration.
Here is a glimpse at some of the initiatives Curry’s workforce is working on with the city of Atlanta.
Rising EV infrastructure
Courtesy of Cynthia Curry
Boosting Atlanta’s electronic-car or truck field is a big concentrate for MAC, Curry mentioned. One noteworthy undertaking it’s been involved in is Curiosity Lab, an economic advancement initiative in close by Peachtree Corners that released in 2019 which supplies an innovation middle, 5G infrastructure, and an autonomous car exam monitor to assist startups, corporations, and other organizations establish and exam good-metropolis systems. In March, T-Mobile, Applied Information, and Temple Inc. introduced programs to debut a 5G-linked car or truck engineering in Peachtree Corners in partnership with Curiosity Lab. It will allow for traffic alerts to talk with all automobiles on roadways by an application.
Another job advancing MAC’s EV goals is The Ray, an 18-mile stretch of Interstate 85 which is a testbed for photo voltaic-powered EV charging stations, autonomous and linked automobile infrastructure, and more. The Atlanta location has also captivated a number of EV firms like electrical-truck producer Rivian Automotive and SK Battery, which announced programs to build vegetation there, and Curry stated other individuals will most likely set up store in Atlanta.
Curry serves as innovation chair for the Georgia Electric powered Mobility and Innovation Alliance (EMIA), a statewide initiative targeted on escalating the state’s EV ecosystem and attracting companies and a workforce in the sector. EMIA is doing work on plan and incentives to make the state company-welcoming to EV firms, together with an yearly
tax credit score
for corporations that manufacture substitute fuel and electrical cars. The tax credit rating amounts differ dependent on the range of new work the business generates.
“That is one particular of the most recent and most fascinating issues we’re working on suitable now,” Curry explained, including that funding from the infrastructure monthly bill to develop EV infrastructure will most likely really encourage even a lot more growth in the region.
Making certain intelligent-city progress is equitable
Curry also sits on the Atlanta Chief Facts Officer Advisory Board, a city board that meets quarterly to examine Atlanta’s biggest priorities and tech-targeted remedies that will make entry to products and services extra equitable.
In 2021, MAC introduced the Atlanta Motion for Racial Equity, a multi-12 months action approach to help companies deal with systemic racism that influences the Black community. The system focuses on four areas, together with corporate DEI policies, education, inclusive financial progress, and workforce improvement. MAC delivers playbooks, created by a steering committee of neighborhood organization and civic leaders, for companies to aid them strengthen range, equity, and inclusion in the 4 areas. Companies report their progress, and MAC has partnered with DEI system Kanarys to analyze the data.
Curry said additional than 250 providers, which includes UPS, Coca-Cola, Cox Enterprises, and Delta Air Lines, have signed on to the initiative.
Focusing on know-how and equity in tandem very well positions Atlanta for the potential, she mentioned, and will support the location far better attract new organization and people.
“Organizations and expertise want to be part of communities that are assorted, equitable, and sustainable,” Curry additional.
