Back in the Fall of 2013 a small group of community stakeholders launched a tech/creative startup community building initiative on the campus of Tuskegee University and a day later in Birmingham, AL while participating in the Start-Up Village component of that year’s Alabama Launchpad Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference.
At that time members of this group called the effort AIRR(Advancing Innovation with Regional Resources). The initiative was all about leveraging the talent and resources which existed up and down teh segment of Interstate Hwy 85(I85) that exists between the City of Montgomery though the Cities of Auburn & Opelika to include the Central Alabama Cities of Tuskegee, Tallassee, Wetumpka, Pike Road, Shorter, Millbrook and Prattville.
Although many of that group’s initial assumptions and assessments about the region were WAY OFF BASE and DOWN RIGHT INCORRECT, over the past 10 years so many additional assets and resources have been created and discovered while the wealth of talent that operates within this geographic confine has exceeded the expectations of the pioneers of this particular regional tech/creative community building initiative.
In January 2019 our tech/creative community building effort was formally renamed the I85 Cyber Corridor Initiative(I85Cyber.org). So many people and organizations have contributed to this effort over the past 10 years but there are still so many more exciting ventures and segments of our community to both build and explore.
Please consider staying tuned in to all that the I85Cyber.org crew is creating, deploying and the many initiatives on which they are collaborating. To those for whom the I85 Cyber Corridor Initiative concept is new, details round this effort are described here.
Oh one final thing, although not yet pushing the particulars, our team recently launched a “NEW” I85cyber.org website. There are so many more features and functionalities that we anticipate adding over the next few months. Please consider staying tuned in.
Over the past 10 years there have been so many unsung participants and contributors in our standing up and maintaining both the initial and current tech/creative community building efforts. It is with this in mind that from time to time the I85Cyber.org website will included posts from the “I85 Cyber Corridor Chronicles Series” which is an attempt to cast a bright spotlight upon the aforementioned individuals and their unselfish contributions and community building efforts. Again, please stay tuned as more details are released.
During the 2023 Department of the Air Force Information Technology and Cyberpower(DAFITC) Conference a few of our team/community members and partners, located all up and down the I85Cyber.org, along with visitors to the City of Montgomery who were attendees of the conference, held a “small celebration” to commemorate this 10 Years milestone. Many thanks to team members from the Kings Canvas, Alabama AI Center Of Excellence(AAICE), the MGMIX and the City of Montgomery, AL, KHARI Creative, 1 Sync Technologies, and AUBIX Datacenter for sponsoring this effort.
– Community Stewards, I85Cyber.org
