ATL Global Innovation Weekend: South Downtown’s World Cup ‘Civic Accelerator’

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There’s no city like Atlanta.

Since the 1996 Olympics, we have grown into a global powerhouse at the intersection of culture, commerce and campuses. Our influence is undeniable, from the music that helps shape the world’s sound to the civic movements that shape the national conversation. But as the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches, we face a critical question: When the world arrives, will they see a polished facade, or will they see the authentic soul of the city?

As the Board Chair of Heart of South Downtown (HoSD), I see our neighborhood, Atlanta’s founding soil, as a core gateway for this global moment. With 10 city blocks being reimagined, we aren’t just managing a real estate project; we are stewarding a new era of civic legacy.

Blake Stoner serves as Board Chair of Heart of South Downtown, helping steward the revitalization of 10 city blocks across Atlanta’s founding neighborhood. He is the Founder and CEO of Vngle: The Civic Insights Company building real-time infrastructure to help institutions better understand public sentiment and local conditions. Stoner also serves as Director of the Institute for Nonpartisan Innovation with CUNY, advancing research and civic technology to strengthen nonpartisan, community-driven insights nationwide.

I’ve been coming to South Downtown my whole life. My first barbershop in the city was here. To now help lead its revitalization is an honor, but it is also a massive responsibility. If we reduce 2026 to a construction checklist or a branding exercise, we risk polishing the surface while leaving the foundation unchanged.

Preparation must be holistic

In my everyday work leading Vngle: The Civic Insights, I focus on sourcing “ground truth” — the idea that the best decisions are informed by the lived realities of communities. At HoSD, we are applying that same mindset to molding this community. As South Downtown is being re-imagined as a district for doers, we at HoSD see it as a platform for entrepreneurs, artists and technologists to co-create solutions for the city just as much as solutions for industries.

This is why we are convening the ATL Global Innovation Weekend from Feb. 20 to 22. This isn’t a traditional conference; it is a 48-hour “Civic Accelerator.” We are not merely hoping to serve Downtown, we are activating a new practice to do so, by bringing together some of Atlanta’s most visionary minds to prototype real, tangible activations and solutions ahead of the World Cup.

The district as a platform

Heart of South Downtown’s role in the future of Downtown is all about connection. For this moment that means connecting the civic-minded “builder ecosystem,” the entrepreneurs, creatives and more, to the institutional leaders who can help scale new needed ideas for impact.

We are looking for “civic resilience” — building systems and narratives that don’t just look good for the cameras in 2026 but serve the residents of 2046. Our goal is to ensure South Downtown reflects Atlanta’s full cultural lineage, not a sanitized version of it. We are prioritizing creative communities early, protecting space for experimentation and ensuring that Downtown’s narrative reflects the people who make Atlanta what it is.

The invitation: Witness the future on Feb. 22

We aren’t just talking about the future; we are prototyping it in real-time. On Sunday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m., we are opening the doors for our Closing Showcase.

This is your chance to see what happens when you give some of our brightest civic minds 48 hours to solve for our city’s next global moment . You will see concepts for cultural activations and solutions that represent what downtown needs and can help define downtown’s experience during the World Cup.

But this is more than a presentation, it is a marketplace of ideas.

I am calling on our city’s institutional leaders and community partners: Join us in ramping up for the world’s arrival at our doorstep. The projects you will witness are concepts that may be ready for scale with the right placed-based support. Your involvement is the key to turning a 48-hour sprint into a city-wide legacy. If you are interested in offering a new location to test these concepts or providing the resources to scale them across Downtown and beyond, this showcase is where that work begins.

The World Cup is coming. That part is certain. We’ve stood on the global stage before. The question now is what endures beyond the final whistle, and who we are becoming.

Join us on Feb. 22 at the Atlanta Tech Village to see the first draft of that future, and help us write the next chapter. RSVP here.

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