Atlanta has emerged as one of the nation’s capital cities for technology and startup innovation. Part of the region’s success with its technology ecosystem is Technology Square. Located in Midtown Atlanta — and anchored by Georgia Tech — Tech Square has the highest density of startups, corporate innovators, and academic researchers in the southeastern United States.

This is a unique ecosystem with a number of critical factors that make it a magnet for technology entrepreneurship formation and capital investment. This is a community of innovation where entrepreneurs can meet and connect with other startups, tap into world-class research findings at Georgia Tech, and find venture capital, a technology-oriented workforce, a dense concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and of course, Georgia Tech’s student talent.

Tech has a rich network of programs for the campus community and an equally robust number of offerings for entrepreneurs who don’t have an affiliation with the Institute. In fact, these programs are designed to help entrepreneurs become integral components of the broader technology startup ecosystem. And they offer connections and access to Georgia Tech’s resources, expertise, and student talent, regardless of an entrepreneur’s own affiliation to Georgia Tech. Programs include:

Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC): The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) is Georgia’s technology incubator. Headquartered in Technology Square, the heart of Atlanta’s Midtown innovation district, ATDC has been helping startup companies learn, launch, scale, and succeed since 1980, and is one of the longest running and most successful university-based incubators of its kind in the United States. ATDC serves the state of Georgia and offers its ATDC @ startup education programming in Athens, Augusta, Peachtree Corners, and Savannah.

ATDC offers unprecedented access to Georgia Tech resources, including 45,000 square feet of office space and 22,000 square feet of wet-lab space. Led by a world-class staff of seasoned entrepreneurs and subject matter experts, ATDC works with entrepreneurs in a host of industries, but has strategic focus on specific sectors where the state of Georgia leads and Georgia Tech innovates, including financial technology, advanced manufacturing, retail technology, and health technology. Since its founding in 1980, ATDC companies have raised more than $3 billion in investment capital and generated more than $12 billion in revenue in Georgia. Want to get started on your entrepreneurship journey? Contact ATDC at info@atdc.org.

Engage Ventures: An early-stage venture fund created by Georgia Tech, Invest Georgia, and 11 of the nation’s largest corporations, Engage Ventures is a collaborative innovation platform. The Engage Fund is held and maintained by Tech Square Ventures and it is the largest grouping of strategic corporations in a venture fund. Engage’s mission is to connect leaders and entrepreneurs and provide access to new customers and markets. Startup founders — who come from all over the United States and from overseas — work closely with the Engage team and executives from the partner corporations to refine their go-to-market strategies, focus on building strategic relationships, and develop distribution and scale. To date, every company accepted into its portfolio has formed strategic partnerships or signed one or more corporate partners as end customers. To learn how to join Engage as an entrepreneur, email info@engage.vc. If you’re a corporation interested in working with them, email partners@engage.vc.

Global Center for Medical Innovation: The Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI) is the Southeast’s first and only comprehensive medical device innovation center and is dedicated to accelerating development, building businesses, and improving health. An affiliate of Georgia Tech, GCMI was established in 2012 and has worked with more than 50 different startups, clinician innovators, university tech transfer offices, and academic researchers to design, engineer, prototype, and facilitate commercialization of a broad range of innovative medical devices. Established as an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, GCMI’s robust network of experts provide knowledge and experience in intellectual property, regulatory issues, quality systems and investment to help drive ideas from concept to market. To learn how GCMI can help, fill out the contact form: gcmiatl.com/gcmi-contact/ — or call 404-894-5227.