Members of the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee received an informational update Wednesday morning on the first-year work of The Partnership for Inclusive Innovation. PIN is a public-private partnership that launched in 2020 to lead statewide efforts to position Georgia as the ‘Technology Capital of the East Coast.’
Moving into their “sophomore year,” Executive Director Debra Lam said the organization that is “tasked with unlocking the promise of innovation” is ready to move past start-ups and work with small existing innovators in Georgia to encourage growth.
“We have a lot to celebrate in Georgia, but there is a lot more than we can do,” said Lam. “We have only been doing this work for a year, and we see the work we have accomplished this past year as a starting point. We want to do a lot more.”
Lam said that working under the leadership of Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and board chair Dr. G.P. Bud Peterson, PIN guides efforts and pilot programs to help foster access, growth, entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the state. “We aspire to define Georgia’s entrepreneurial identity as a national leader in technology research, development and implementation,” she said.
According to Lam, PIN is a public-private partnership that operates with a Board of Advisors that includes academia, representatives from the private sector and from local governments. She said PIN is focused on economic growth across the entire state – not just designated regions — which makes it a unique model. PIN is based on three pillars – economic opportunity, student engagement and community research.
In the first year of operation, Lam said PIN has worked on 19 projects, had over 1,400 attendees at events, and has established projects in 10 of 12 economic development regions across the state. “Our goal now is to move into the other two regions,” she said.
One of the major projects spearheaded by PIN took place in Valdosta. In 2020, Valdosta city officials deployed a Georgia Smart Communities Challenge grant, along with community research support, to pilot a smart traffic management system designed to connect all 128 city traffic signals. The effort also included system enhancements at traffic signals and the traffic control operations center, as well as the installation of communications responders in 10 fire trucks.
The project has allowed first responders to trim 10 seconds off their response time – which can result in saved lives, officials said.
Committee Chair Bruce Thompson (R-White) asked Lam about sustainability, especially should state funding ever be cut. Lam said PIN has established corporate partners who have committed to multi-year funding, as well as grants and funding awarded to local communities through other partnerships.
