Georgia Institute of Technology is a highly prestigious and competitive university in the S.T.E.M. (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) fields, and is very innovative in many ways including the design of the physical campus. Georgia Tech was established on October 13, 1885 and opened in 1888 after the construction of Tech Tower. A funny anecdote about the tower is that repeatedly throughout the history of the school, despite best attempts to prevent it, the letter “T” has been stolen from the top of the tower without leaving a trace and many times without the culprit ever being found out. This has become a sort of challenge among the students, though the university does not take kindly to this and will quickly take disciplinary action.
Screenshot from Georgia Tech Campus Map. The small cluster in columns G and H, rows 4 and 5 on the right part of the map contain Tech Square and the business resources on the campus. The large area that takes up the majority of the map is the academic side.
At first glance, the design of Georgia Tech’s campus to contain academic resources on one side and business on the other side appears to separate the work and academic worlds. Upon taking a closer look it becomes apparent that to the contrary, the clear physical separation of the two, when paired with services to bridge the environments, facilitates the acquisition of “real world” experience for students through internships and other work opportunities, which has a positive effect on academic performance.
The design of Georgia Tech’s campus to contain academic resources on one side and business on the other side. One side of campus contains the various academic resources, such as classroom buildings, dorm buildings, the wind tunnel used by aerospace students and faculty, counselors, the student center, the cafeteria, and more. On the other side of campus are the various business resources such as the incubator buildings, ATDC also known as Advanced Technology Development Center, Georgia Tech Venture Labs, the Biltmore hotel which now is home to a number of companies, a multitude of restaurants, and locations where multiple job fairs are held frequently. The two parts of campus look and feel very different from each other in the design and environment. In fact, many Georgia Tech students do not even consider the business area to be a part of the campus, even though it is literally part of the physical campus. ATDC is a technology startup incubator located in the Centergy One building at 75 5th Street at Tech Square on Georgia Tech campus. ATDC resides on the second floor of the building, and houses dozens of startup companies at any given time. According to the ATDC track record web page last updated in 2016, the companies started at ATDC have a 90% success evaluated 5 years after graduating the program. Some of their most recent graduates listed on their list of successful businesses page are NextInput, Synapp.io, and Zoompf (ATDC 2016). A series of ATDC newsletters illustrates a sustained desire of businesses at ATDC for Georgia Tech students as interns and employees.