The Georgia Tech EDA University Center (GT EDAUC) is a program funded by the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) through its EDA University Center program.
The GT EDAUC is led by Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) and supports outreach activities that seek to promote job creation, development of high-skilled regional talent pools, business expansion in innovation clusters, and to create and nurture regional economic ecosystems in the state of Georgia and other states within the EDA Atlanta region (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee).
The GT EDAUC has two primary focus areas: (1) Innovation-led Ecosystem Support for Universities and Communities and (2) Strategic Economic Development Support for Distressed Communities.
The GT EDAUC assists communities through the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR). CEDR leverages funding provided by the grant to deliver affordable research services through the Economic Development Research Program (EDRP). EDRP is a competitive RFP process that strives to inform policy decision-making and to help local governments and economic development organizations enhance their community’s competitive position. Research services provided include strategic planning, forecasting, feasibility studies, readiness assessments, economic impact analysis, and labor market studies.