Just four months after it opened its doors, the Georgia Cyber Center’s Hull McKnight Building is running at full speed. The center marked a couple of firsts during the first week of November: Every available event space was booked for the first time, and the Georgia Cyber Center’s Cyber Workforce Academy welcomed its first training class.
If you took a screenshot of the Georgia Cyber Center during the week, you would see: the 340-seat Plug ‘n’ Play auditorium booked for a capture the flag tournament; the RAM Room filled with executives; the bit, byte, and nybble of the Virtual World occupied with a training class; the first floor lobby and the Cloud bustling with attendees collaborating over breakfast and lunch; and training classes taking place on the second floor and in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s training room on the fourth floor.
The Georgia Cyber Center is specially designed to encourage meaningful collisions – chance meetings and opportunities that spark collaboration. During the week you might run into two branches from the U.S. Army having an offsite retreat and training assignment; personnel from Georgia state agencies taking a training class; a principal joined by math teachers from a local high school taking a tour; cyber aficionados participating in a free capture the flag tournament; professionals attending a Joint Advanced Cyber Warfare Course Briefing; and an international group touring the building to understand how government, academia and private industry can work together under one roof.
In addition to fostering the collaboration, innovation, and workforce development the Georgia Cyber Center was designed for, the high level of activity delivers other benefits. Leasing and rental fees keep the facilities up to date and technology refreshed. The impact of the Georgia Cyber Center stretches beyond the Nathan Deal Campus for Innovation and directly contributes to the local economy. In the first week of November alone, the Cyber Center hosted weeklong events for two out-of-town groups that occupied local hotels, booked local caterers for breakfasts and lunches, dined in local restaurants, and utilized local taxis and buses.
The resident partners keep the building buzzing alongside the guests. Augusta University and Augusta Technical College teach 35 classes each week. The newest resident partners, Tatooine and Parsons, moved into their temporary spaces while their permanent offices are built out. The Clubhou.se and their members have innovative meet-ups and training almost all day every day; and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is working on solving cybercrimes and training local law enforcement and agents from across the state. Buona Caffe, located on the first floor, keeps everyone happily caffeinated.
The countdown clocks are quickly ticking down to the opening of the Shaffer MacCartney Building, scheduled for completion in December 2018. Each day the Georgia Cyber Center works thoughtfully and diligently to prove it is not just another government building, not now nor years from now. Book an event or participate in a training class and you will have the opportunity to witness the innovative collaboration between government, academia, and private industry first hand.
To reserve space for an event related to the mission of the Georgia Cyber Center, visit www.augusta.edu/its/gcitc-event.php.
For information about leasing space in the Hull McKnight Building or the Shaffer MacCartney Building, contact JLL’s Ryan Fetz (ryan.fetz@am.jll.com) or Glenn Aspinwall (glenn.aspinwall@am.jll.com).