Issue link: http://savannah.uberflip.com/i/1444971
18 2 The fintech cluster of companies in the Atlanta MSA has grown rapidly. For example, in 2020, Deluxe announced that it will establish a new fintech and customer innovation center in Sandy Springs, creating over 700 jobs. Toyota Financial Services will open a financial services center in Alpharetta that will be one of three national hubs and will create 150 jobs. Investment management company Invesco plans to add 500 jobs at its global headquarters in midtown Atlanta. BlackRock announced the creation of an innovation hub in Atlanta, creating 1,000 jobs over several years. Bolstering all of these efforts, the Georgia Fintech Academy--available at 15 of the University System of Georgia's 26 institutions--provides the talent needed to attract more financial technology companies to Georgia. The Covid-19 crisis dramatically boosted the use of online and digital services, which increases the need for cybersecurity. Georgia's cybersecurity industry is located primarily in Atlanta and Augusta. Talent is the key to Atlanta's success whereas the presence of the U.S. Army Cyber Command at Fort Gordon and Georgia Cyber Center are the foundations of Augusta's cybersecurity economy. Healthcare IT and telemedicine will create thousands of high-paying jobs in Georgia over the next decade. The Covid crisis greatly accelerated the adoption of telemedicine by traditional healthcare providers, which helped people become accustomed to the online delivery of healthcare. Once the pandemic is over, it is likely that many patients will continue to use online healthcare, which bodes well for healthcare providers, healthcare IT companies, and cybersecurity companies. Georgia is attracting and growing healthcare IT companies. In late 2020, Path-Tec announced an expansion of their operations in Columbus that would create 350 jobs. BioIQ will create 500 jobs in Cobb County at its new headquarters in Cobb County, and Edifecs Inc. will bring 200 healthcare IT jobs to Atlanta over the next three years. The build-out of headquarters projects is an important force powering Georgia's future economic growth. Vanderlande Industries, a logistics company, will expand of its North American headquarters in Cobb County, creating 500 new jobs in Marietta. Soliant, a healthcare staffing company, will expand its headquarters in Gwinnett County, creating 200 new jobs in Peachtree Corners. GreyOrange, which specializes in the use of AI-software/robotics for fulfillment automation, will relocate its global headquarters to Roswell, creating 200 new jobs. GCP Applied Technologies, a provider of construction products and technologies, will open a global headquarters in metro Atlanta, creating 80 jobs. In addition to headquarters projected announced in 2021, projects announced earlier will spur growth, too. For example, Papa John's chose Georgia as the location of its new global headquarters in 2020, which adds about 200 jobs to the Atlanta MSA. Norfolk Southern Railway is relocating its corporate headquarters to midtown Atlanta and expects to move in late 2021; and Newall Brands moved its headquarters back to Atlanta from New Jersey. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Georgia's ideal geographic location makes Georgia a good hub from which to serve operations in the Americas. In addition, access to talent and the strength of the business sector are very important drivers of headquarters locations in the Atlanta MSA. According to FEMA, Georgia has a very low risk for business disruption due to natural disasters, which is an important consideration for headquarters locations. Twenty-nine companies with headquarters in metro Atlanta rank among the 2021 Fortune 1000 and sixteen rank among the Fortune 500. Before the pandemic (2019), Atlanta was home to only 26 Fortune 1,000 companies. The outlook for Georgia's large healthcare industry is good, but its economic recovery from the virus crisis is far from complete. During the initial lockdown, many people postponed visits to healthcare providers, but rescheduled appointments once the economy reopened, so the ambulatory healthcare services subsector recovered very quickly. In contrast, hospitals are still on a downward trend. Nursing and residential care facilities also lost jobs in 2021. Consequently, the number of healthcare jobs in Georgia will end 2021 well below its pre-pandemic peak level.