Global consulting giant Accenture on Wednesday confirmed its plans to create an innovation hub at Technology Square in Midtown, where the company plans to create 800 new jobs by 2020.
The innovation hub, part of a planned network of 10 such facilities around the nation, will be designed to that Accenture technologists can aide their Fortune 500 clients and other major companies in designing and testing new technologies, said Jimmy Etheredge, senior managing director in the Southeast for Accenture.
The Accenture project is the latest in a string of high-profile technology jobs announcements for the city and state, and it coincides with a celebratory press conference on Tuesday in which Deal touted a record-breaking year for the state's economic development team.
Landing another major tech deal in Accenture is a further sign of vibrancy for the region’s tech scene. The announcement was made Wednesday at an event at the State Capitol with Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
Etheredge said the complex, taking up a floor in the Centergy building at Tech Square, will be a place where Accenture officials will have co-working space to help their clients refine and perfect new technologies. The hub is expected to open by next summer.
“What we are going to be doing in this space is more than co-creation, literally having clients working side by side with us to build out prototypes, build out pilots that we would work with them to rapidly scale and deploy for the businesses,” he said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Accenture is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and other major firms. The company helps others develop new technology and streamline and manage their businesses. It employs software designers and other tech grads in addition to professionals with business degrees.
The company in February announced plans to launch 10 such hubs across the country, as part of a broader $1.4 billion U.S. technology and training investment that Accenture said would create 15,000 new jobs by 2020. The company opened a similar hub in Houston and has announced another in New York.
The announcement of 800 new high-paying tech jobs comes as the state celebrated a big year for its business recruiting efforts, and as the state and city of Atlanta gear up for what could be the biggest ever jobs push in the hunt for the second Amazon North American headquarters and the promise of 50,000 corporate jobs.
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