Known as the innovation capital of the south, Atlanta boasts a vibrant startup community and is home to the Advanced Technology Development Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology, considered by Forbes magazine as one of the 12 business incubators changing the world. The acclaimed higher education system in Metro Atlanta and the city’s international prominence also seeds the regional innovation community. From 2007 to 2011, Atlanta-area universities filed more than 3400 invention disclosures and received over 500 U.S. patents.

Atlanta is a leading city for film and television production as it is home to 75-80 percent of the films produced in the state of Georgia. The industry has generated more than $5 billion in revenue and more than 77,000 jobs in the state, and has produced major motion pictures such as The Hunger Games series, The Blind Side and Footloose, and television series such as The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries and Halt and Catch Fire.

The City has a vibrant aerospace presence and is a global powerhouse for aerospace technology. Approximately $3.9 billion of annual revenue is generated by the aerospace industry in Atlanta, which ranks in the top five of U.S. cities for aerospace employment with more than 500 aerospace companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing. To supply talent to this growing industry, the Georgia Institute of Technology boasts one of the top aerospace engineering programs in the world.

Atlanta has become the epicenter of the healthcare industry, boasting cross-disciplinary excellence in disease prevention, non-profit presence, and medical R&D. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), located in metro Atlanta, is the world’s most recognized authority in disease eradication and prevention. National and global non-profit organizations, including the American Cancer Society, and CARE are headquartered here. The city’s also home to top healthcare systems, including Emory University, Grady Health System, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The bioscience industry and university research, plus the CDC, has a $20 billion annual impact on Georgia and employs nearly 100,000 people.