A century ago, Chattanooga was a center of industry and innovation. The Coca Cola Bottling Companies were born there, and the city prospered from growth in heavy industry including metal foundries. But by the 1970s, heavy industry began to shrink dramatically in the face of global competition, leaving the city with high unemployment, an under-skilled workforce and a legacy of polluted air.

Then the electric company owned by the city began investing in fiber optics to improve its own operations. As part of the build-out, it introduced low-cost, high-performance broadband to business and residents. When it launched 1 gig service in 2010, city government responded by creating America’s first Gig City brand as an “open for business” sign for innovators. Meanwhile the city spurred collaboration among the educators and foundations to upskill residents and create a digital workforce and institutions to serve them. By 2017, Chattanooga had become one of the country’s 25 fastest growing cities.

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Learn from Chattanooga and 21 other communities in Accelerate Your Economic Development, a discount bundle of courses in the Community Accelerator online training program. Danville is profiled in the course on Innovation: Building an Ecosystem for Growth. Produced in partnership with Economic Development Australia and the Economic Developers Association of Canada.

How did Chattanooga do it? ICF tells the story in an online profile - one of hundreds on our site that take you inside technology-centric development of communities that builds inclusive prosperity, strengthens societies and enriches local culture. 

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — From Boston to Seattle, cities across the country are vying to create technology hubs, spurring real estate developments to attract start-ups and young entrepreneurs.

To the south, this smaller but thriving city is seeing returns on its effort to do the same. Chattanooga has leveraged its lightning-fast broadband connections to develop a tech scene in its recently designed innovation district, a 140-acre section of its compact central business district.