Digital Capital Atlanta Report
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Powering your digital ambitions DIGITAL CAPITALS ATLANTA REPORT NOVEMBER 2019 01 CITY FOCUS: ATLANTA Contents Introduction 4 Main Drivers 5 Digital Capital – Atlanta 5 Value of AI, IoT, Blockchain & 5G to the Atlanta Economy: 2019 6 Predicted Future Value: 2024 6 Predicted Future Value: 2029 7 Overall Performance: 2019-2029 8 Conclusions 9 Recommendations and Opportunities for Businesses 9 Appendix 11 Glossary of Terms 14 2 DIGITAL CAPITALS ATLANTA REPORT NOVEMBER 2019 DIGITAL CAPITALS ATLANTA REPORT NOVEMBER 2019 3 Main Drivers headquarters and corporate command and control functions, with the city providing a base for major There has been a huge increase in data generation over companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air the past decade – driven by advances in digital Lines and various international media companies. 1 technology – which have led to the proliferation of connected devices and sensors in both business and An important component of the city’s economy and its household situations. The growth in the rate at which status as a leading digital capital is the contribution of Introduction data is being generated currently shows no signs of the financial services sector. Atlanta provides a home for diminishing, driven by an increasing range of industrial, several major financial institutions, including SunTrust government and consumer applications. The amount of Bank and the Invesco asset management company. data generated each day is expected to be further Altogether, it is estimated that there are over 120,000 boosted as emerging or fast-growing digital technologies finance services employees with their workplace located – including AI, virtual reality (VR) and autonomous in Atlanta. Technologies such as AI and Blockchain are vehicles (AV) – become widespread in their usage. already important in the provision of financial services (including market trading and in the detection of Various predictions of the scale of data generation are fraudulent behaviour) and their use and importance can available, all of which anticipate continued huge be expected to grow very significantly over the next increases in the volume of data production. For example, decade or so. IDC in 2018 predicted that there is likely to be a worldwide annual growth rate for data generation of 61% Atlanta is also a major location for a wide range of per annum (p.a.) up to 2025.2 professional services industries, ranging from legal, accountancy and business support services to This global growth is being driven by ever larger advertising. As previously indicated, Atlanta is also a very numbers of people being connected to digital devices for important media and communications hub for the United an increasingly large number of uses and applications. States, with a number of television channels based there, However, it is expected that the creation of data by including CNN, the Cartoon Network and the Weather The creation and sharing of data is central to both concentrations of knowledge-intensive and data-fuelled businesses will become even more important than that Channel. Atlanta is also a very important location for TV economic and social activity. However, in recent decades industries, such as financial services, professional by consumers as the number of sensors and devices in and film drama production. These media industries are at there has been an enormous increase in the rate at services, and media and communications. Of course, the industrial, commercial, infrastructure, healthcare, the forefront of the adoption of – and innovation in which data is created, stored and used for commercial largest cities are also very often the location for transportation and many other situations increases very – digital technologies. purposes, and for other uses such as in healthcare and command and control functions for governments, major rapidly. entertainment. corporations, universities and other entities. Atlanta also provides a home for a significant number of The continuing increase in the generation and sharing of universities and research institutions, including those The rate at which data is being created continues to grow The leading cities – the digital capitals – also possess data is being further boosted by the emergence and with specialisms in digital technology, life sciences and at astounding rates, driven by data-intensive technologies some of the world’s richest digital skills resources, development of 4 interlinked digital technologies: AI, IoT, healthcare. Atlanta is home to over 20 universities and in business, government and in the home. The growth in research and development (R&D) assets, and digital and Blockchain, and 5G. colleges, including the Georgia Institute of Technology data is also expected to be further stimulated by new or supporting infrastructures that make it easier for and Georgia State University. Other major technology- evolving data-intensive technologies such as Artificial entrepreneurs and skilled workers to share ideas, Digital Capital – Atlanta driven organisations with bases in Atlanta include the Intelligence (AI) and the fifth generation of mobile collaborate and develop new forms of technology and national Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and communications technology (5G). applications. Atlanta has been identified as a top-ten location for high the Region II headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory technology employment within the United States, with Commission. The economic contribution of digital information has To explore the status of Atlanta as one of the world’s over 125,000 hi-tech jobs across a range of sectors, 1 previously been termed the ‘data economy’: the financial digital capitals, Digital Realty has commissioned a new including finance, aviation, media and communications, and economic value generated by the creation, storage, report that assesses 60 major global cities in two ways: biotechnology and healthcare. Apart from the size and Atlanta has been identified as a retrieval and use of highly detailed business and skills profile of its digital economy workforce, Atlanta also 1 How much data – from that used by a smartphone to top 10 location for high organizational data at high speeds. The economic benefits from excellent digital and other communications advanced robotics and financial trading – contributes contribution of the data economy to national economies infrastructure (including global aviation links) and a very technology employment within to the city’s economy, creating an index of the world’s has been previously examined in an earlier study also supportive environment for entrepreneurship and most successful data economies today and in the the United States, with over commissioned by Digital Realty (dating from 2018), start-up ventures. which focused on the current and potential future size next decade 125,000 hi-tech jobs across a and value of the digital economy in a number of The prominence of Atlanta as a digital capital is 2 Quantifying the current, and assessing the potential European countries. underscored by the role the city plays in providing range of sectors including future, contribution of today’s most talked about The world’s leading cities are major hubs for the data technologies – AI, Blockchain, the Internet of Things finance, aviation, media & economy because they typically have very high densities (IoT) and 5G – to those data economies across the communications, biotechnology of commercial activity stimulated by data and digital next 10 years technologies. This leading role is linked to the and healthcare 1 Digital Realty: The Data Economy Report, 2018 2 https://www.networkworld.com/article/3325397/idc-expect-175-zettabytes-of-data-worldwide-by-2025.html 4 DIGITAL CAPITALS ATLANTA REPORT NOVEMBER 2019 DIGITAL CAPITALS ATLANTA REPORT NOVEMBER 2019 5 Value of AI, IoT, Blockchain & 5G to Predicted Future Value: 2024 The most spectacular growth – in proportionate terms Predicted Future Value: 2029 – is expected to come from 5G, with real growth in the Atlanta economy: 2019 By 2024, the value of the 4 technologies to the annual annual value of 700%. This is because, while 5G is The overall contribution in terms of value to Atlanta’s value of Atlanta’s economy is expected to have grown to currently a newly emerging technology, by 2024 the use economy of the 4 technologies is expected to grow to A key part of the growth of Atlanta as a digital capital US$0.79 billion p.a. This represents growth of US$0.45 of 5G is expected to be widespread among both US$1.42 billion by 2029, representing an increase in real expected over the next decade will result from a set of billion compared to 2019, which translates into predicted consumers and businesses. terms of US$0.63 billion p.a. compared to 2024. The overall data-intensive, interconnected technologies such as AI, growth of 132%. By 2024, the 4 technologies are increase in annual value when the 2029 predicted values IoT, Blockchain and 5G. With that in mind, the economic expected to contribute 2.88% to the city’s overall With respect to international rankings for the annual are compared to those for 2024 is expected to amount to contributions of these 4 high-potential, data-led economy, up from 1.52% in 2019. value contributed by these 4 digital technologies, by 80%. The contribution of the 4 technologies to the Atlanta technologies have been examined to provide a baseline 2024 Atlanta is expected to maintain its international economy is expected to increase from 2.88% in 2024 to against which the future potential for growth in Atlanta’s In absolute terms, the largest component of growth is ranking position through to 2029. 4.31% in 2029 (and from just 1.52% in 2019). data economy can be compared. expected to be from AI: this segment is expected to contribute US$0.33 billion p.a. by 2024, compared to The current contribution of the 4 digital technologies to US$0.11 billion p.a. in 2019, representing an annual Annual value the Atlanta economy in 2019 is estimated to be worth By 2024, the value of the 4 % of overall city increment in value amounting to US$0.22 billion p.a.