Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough attended the opening of the technology park’s first building last November.  The ribbon cutting also drew a delegation from Ireland.  Full story

A Finnish water and fiber management company will consolidate its North American research and development operations into the Technology Enterprise Park in Midtown Atlanta.

Kemira Inc. announced Sept. 23 that it has leased space at the park, a development off North Avenue near the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology that opened the first of four planned buildings last November.

The Atlanta facility will employ 85 people and is part of the company’s plan to reduce its 17 existing R&D sites to five in strategic regions around the world by the summer of 2009.

Among other products, Kemira provides chemical solutions for the pulp and paper, water treatment and oil and mining industries.

Using the R&D infrastructure provided by the park and the talent and resource base supplied by its association with Georgia Tech, the new research facility will help Kemira turn its innovations into products that meet the needs of customers.

“Kemira enhances its strategic cooperation with the industry clusters, universities and overall research community through our regionally located R&D centers,” said Johan Grön, head of R&D and technology at the Kemira Group.  “This is how we will ensure highly skilled and motivated resources to the benefit of our customers’ businesses.”

The Technology Enterprise Park is seen as a key to drawing more technology and bioscience firms to Georgia.

A press release from the Georgia Department of Economic Development said that Kemira’s lease filled the last vacant space in the park’s first building.

“Our educated workforce and array of top-notch research institutions make locating here a natural fit,” said Ken Stewart, Georgia’s economic development commissioner, said in the release.

A delegation of bioindustry officials from Ireland visited Atlanta last year for the ribbon cutting ceremony that opened the technology park.

The group was led by Barry Dolan, associate director and biotechnology research lead at Georgia Tech Ireland, an Athlone, Ireland-based branch of the university’s research institute.

The first two companies to lease space at the park were Altea Therapeutics Corp., which produces a transdermal delivery system for water-soluble drugs and proteins, and CardioMEMS Inc., which produces wireless sensing and communication technology for the human body.

In 2007, Kemira had revenues of 2.8 billion euros and a worldwide staff of 10,000 employees in 100 locations.

For more information on the technology park, see this GlobalAtlanta article on the opening: http://stories.globalatlanta.com/2007stories/015557.html