Some Good News for Tech Firms in 2002

Atlanta Business Chronicle (December 13-19, 2002)

Did you catch the latest Heineken commercial? It's a winter wonderland of falling snow and holiday carols. The scene moves to an office, where the origination of "the snow" is revealed: late night paper shredders. It ends with a happy holiday wish for those of us who "haven't been naughty." Unusual take. But it's been an unusual year- unusually bad.

Still, 2002 proved to be a bang-up year for many Georgia technology companies.

This was the year Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $2.7 billion contract to build the first lot of Raptor stealth fighters, Manhattan Associates, Inc. claimed a lead positionin supply-chain management, Inhibitex Inc. raised $41 million, Firstwave Technologies, Inc. delivered one of the Nasdaq's largest stock gains and Georgia ranked No. 4 in the nation as technology firms raised $239 million in venture capital in the second quarter.

I asked some of the state's technology leaders to share their picks for this year's technology highlights. All agreed venture capital continuted to be a big story.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Georgia Tech No. 9 and the University of Georgia No. 18 among the country's top public universities. The best news is that Georgia's talent is staying - 76 percent of Georgians with SAT scores of 1500 or higher choose Georgia schools. After that education, Georgia's Intellectual Capital Partnership Program steps in to link with industry and create high-tech jobs.

At a time when you may have guessed philanthropy slipped in priority, guess again. TechBridge , Atlanta's organization to bring technology solutions to nonprofits, delivered a reported $2 million in new technology infrastructure products and more than 7,000 hours of professional services to nearly 100 metro Atlanta nonprofits. The United Way Technology Initiative exceeded expectations by raising more than $500,000 and Women in Technology (WIT), a Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) society, raised a record amount during its WIT Connect event.

Let's enjoy the good news celebrated among our friends and cohorts around the Georgia technology community. Celebrate whatever success you eked out of 2002 and use it to build upon in 2003.