The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC)

Founded in 1999, The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) supports world-class research, active and solution-oriented industry collaboration, intellectual property generation and revenue generating commercialization efforts. GEDC also attracts funding support from both federal laboratories and industry partners. GEDC's research is broadly focused on communication applications including: wireless/RF, wired/copper and fiber channels. The State of Georgia created the $5 million Seed Capital Fund to support the overall GEDC initiative and catalyze the development of broadband infrastructure companies. The fund can invest up to $500K at the first professional round, and the investment must be matched at a 3:1 ratio (minimum) by the private equity community. The fund assists in creating the syndicate of investors for each seed investment that it makes. In addition to taking equity, the fund requires board observation rights in all of its investments. The Seed Capital Fund is managed by the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), which is based in Atlanta near the Georgia Institute of Technology (see profile). The center has generated more than $32 million in federal and industry investment.