If defining the ambition leans into the “will” of an ecosystem, then crafting a strategy leans into its “skill”. In the previous post, Boston’s identity as the “capital of the scientific revolution” set a direction based upon a compelling future state vision; its strategic roadmap leaned heavily on its universities and the research and talent they create to get there.
A comprehensive ecosystem development strategy addresses the specific innovation focus area and how the region’s strengths/assets will be used to create a durable competitive advantage for innovators within the ecosystem. Let’s unpack that for a second:
- Select focus areas: This involves selecting either specific sectors (e.g., electric vehicles, power generation, fuels and chemicals) or functions (e.g., Internet of Things, AI / ML, advanced materials, or robotics) or unique intersections of the two (e.g., battery materials, precision agriculture, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)). A region’s strengths should dictate its selection of sector, function, or combination thereof. A region that can truly support multiple areas of focus may benefit from aligning these under an overarching theme like Low Carbon Logistics, which could be an umbrella over sector focus on electric vehicles, e-fuels, and SAF.
- Identify the region’s differentiated assets for innovators: Every region has a pitch that it makes to attract new businesses, and these pitches usually include some of the following assets: infrastructure, talent pool, or a business friendly climate. The assets that differentiate innovation ecosystems are not always the same; for instance, highly ranked departments at universities are a greater differentiator than an interstate highway system for cleantech innovators. It is important to consider which assets will make it faster for innovators to create products and businesses in the region when compared to others.
- Link the differentiated assets to programs that create advantage for innovators: Innovators seek competitive advantage. An innovation ecosystem needs to develop the programs, incentives and partnerships that provide innovators easy access region’s differentiated assets. Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator’s Zero Emission Delivery Zone in Santa Monica and the Carbon to Value Initiative are good examples.
So, where is the state’s ecosystem today on the journey toward developing its strategy and what should the ecosystem expect when it is finished?
What Does Good Look Like?
Boston, St. Louis and Research Triangle have built successful innovation ecosystems over decades and most of what is written about them lack detail around their early growth strategies. Fortunately, there is now a wealth of public information on current innovation ecosystem development efforts through the EDA’s Tech Hub Program. The SC Nexus tech hub, situated in South Carolina’s Midlands and Upstate regions, is a good example. SC Nexus focuses on cyber-secure grid resilience technologies (GRT) and improving the clean energy supply chain. Its strategy leverages the region’s manufacturing base and research capabilities. What this strategy does exceptionally well is creating the plan to build development and testbed infrastructure that will give innovators ready access to the assets they need to build and validate their technologies faster (specifically through TRL 6-8). SC Nexus’ strategy picks a lane and creates links between the region’s strongest assets to the innovation areas in which it wants to excel.
Where is Georgia Today (Fall 2024)?
The Georgia cleantech innovation ecosystem is in the early days of strategy development. There is a shared belief amongst leaders in the ecosystem that Georgia has a “right to win” in cleantech, meaning, that state has existing assets that create a durable a competitive advantage for cleantech innovators. While these leaders may use different terms, there is broad agreement cleantech innovators will succeed in Georgia for the following reasons:
- Cleantech-sector specific manufacturing infrastructure: Georgia is known for being part of the North America’s “Battery Belt”, a group of states that stretch from Michigan to Georgia where over $90B in battery supply chain investments were announced between 2020 and 2023. Additionally, Georgia has the largest solar manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere (HANWHA Q CELLS USA INC in Dalton) and massive EV manufacturing plants (Kia Motors in West Point, GA and Hyundai’s Bryan County Megaplant). The knock-on impact of a manufacturing base are manyfold, including the building of a skilled labor force through the state’s highly-coordinated workforce development engine and the myriad Tier 1/2/3 suppliers to these factories that develop nearby.
- World-class research institutions: Georgia has 9 R1 or R2 research universities. Collectively, Georgia universities drive over $3B in R&D spend through grants and contracts, and these universities boast nationally-ranked programs in bioproducts, energy and fuels, materials science and engineering, agriculture sciences, environmental engineering and advanced manufacturing. The state’s universities also minted a diverse cohort of >10,000 science and engineering undergraduate and post graduates in 2024.
- Local corporate demand with global reach: With 37 Fortune 1000 company headquarters and a number of notable multinationals (e.g., Siemens, Google, Microsoft, Amazon) with a strong presence within the state, innovators can have face-to-face conversations with decision-makers at companies that can help them reach global scale. What is most interesting about the cohort of companies in the state is that there is broad representation across multiple sectors, including but not limited to CPG, Logistics, Aerospace, Agriculture, and Materials.
GACIH will detail each of these in a series of deep-dive posts that highlight what creates the advantage and why it is important to cleantech innovators.
While the state’s differentiated assets are developed for a “right to win” strategy, the conversation on selecting an area or areas of focus and developing the programs that leverage the assets for innovation is still in progress.
What is Next?
Defining the “what” and “how” of the Georgia’s cleantech innovation ecosystem needs to be co-developed next. The “what” will define the ecosystem’s focus (sector, function, or theme) for becoming a preeminent global innovation hub. The “how” will focus on the interventions that are necessary to connect the state’s differentiated assets to the innovators in the sector or thematic focus areas.
In our previous post, the Georgia Cleantech Innovation Hub explained why we believe that we are well suited to coordinate an effort requires broad stakeholder engagement and impartiality. We also have broad connections outside of the state which help us to bring the best ideas from outside the state to bear in determining the path forward for our ecosystem.
How Do We Know When We Get There?
A compelling strategy that lays out the pathway to achieving the ecosystem’s ambition and goals does not have to be long formal document written by a 3rd party consultant, but it does have to be broadly syndicated, easy to act on and easy for ecosystem players to access. What the cleantech innovation ecosystem in Georgia should expect is something like the roadmap that Tulsa Innovation Labs created for the city. Tulsa was recently recognized by the US EDA as a Tech Hub; a result that was clearly supported by the vision and plan outlined in their strategy.
Stay tuned for the next installment on building a critical mass of startups and capital. We will continue to publish posts on step over the next couple of weeks. If you like this please consider following us on LinkedIn, subscribing to our newsletter, or making a donation.