Lauren Lee | Aug 1, 2025 - Atlanta, GA

Bill Curtis-Davidson is the new Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) in the College of Design, where he leads a highly talented team focused on making technology broadly accessible and enabling inclusive innovation through research, service and education. Read more to learn about his history with Georgia Tech, his philosophy of design, and his first vision for CIDI’s future.

A Full Circle Moment

Coming back to Georgia Tech & CIDI is a culmination of many parts of Bill Curtis-Davidson’s 25+ year career. 

His first involvement with CIDI was with CATEA, one of CIDI’s predecessors. He was a grad student at Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Media, And Communication in 1996, right after the Centennial Olympic Games ended, studying Information Design & Technology (now Digital Media) as the internet was emerging. He found the accessibility research being done at CATEA fascinating. 

After he graduated with his Masters in ’98, he became a research scientist at CATEA and adjunct faculty in Industrial Design. He worked on research designing websites and community resources for the Center’s early research projects in Assistive Technology, some of which continue to this day. He also taught early classes in digital design and advised undergraduate and graduate students. 

“Working at CATEA gave me my first appreciation of the importance of accessible and assistive technologies, and how they can enable social inclusion of people with disabilities”, says Curtis-Davidson. 

In 2000, Curtis-Davidson left to gain global experience in industry at a time when internet technologies were being rapidly adopted. For the next 15 years, he worked at IBM, designing accessible user experiences and technology products and accessibility standards. 

Since 2015, he has worked to make accessibility standard practice rather than an afterthought at companies like Level Access, Magic Leap, and Cadmus. 

“My career has given me the opportunity to gain global experience in accessibility across the public and private sectors,” says Curtis-Davidson. “A consistent focus of mine has been exploring how to bake inclusive design into an organization’s DNA, while creating environments where disabled people can drive that integration informed by their lived experiences.”

In that period, Curtis-Davidson continued to collaborate with and deepen his bonds with CIDI and Georgia Tech. For example, he was a co-instructor on a CIDI Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which won a Zero Project 2018 award. 

“Being given the responsibility of leading CIDI into its next chapter is a huge honor and a true full circle moment in my life,” concludes Curtis-Davidson.

The Importance of Accessible Design to Innovation

Georgia Tech’s Vision 2030 is “Inclusive Innovation for a Better Future,” one goal of which is to make technology more accessible through innovation. 

Reaching this goal will require tapping into research centers like CIDI. 

Curtis-Davidson feels that CIDI, as one of four Research Centers in the Georgia Tech College of Design, is uniquely positioned to support Georgia Tech’s Vision 2030 in the State of Georgia and beyond.

“To make technology broadly accessible, we must ensure people with disabilities are at the center of the design,” says Curtis-Davidson.  “We’re all temporarily able-bodied. One in four American adults has a disability. But every person on the planet can experience disability at any point during their lives or as they get older.”

“A person's traits and their mismatch with their environment make up a disability,” he continues. “By understanding and considering the needs of disabled people, we can create more inclusive technologies and improve the human condition.

Curtis-Davidson is excited about amplifying CIDI’s role in the context of the goals of the Georgia Tech College of Design, and in support of Georgia Tech’s 2030 Vision. 

“Because inclusive innovation requires inclusive design, it is a great time for CIDI to shine!” he says.

Advancing the Accessibility of Emerging Tech

Having worked in technology since the early days of the Internet, Curtis-Davidson brings to CIDI a perspective informed by multiple shifts in human-computer interaction paradigms, from web to mobile to IOT to immersive technologies to AI.

“I’ve always been professionally involved in emerging tech. Hardware, web, mobile, video. AR, VR, and AI too. And I’ve helped develop communities related to those emerging technologies,” says Curtis-Davidson. 

Curtis-Davidson has dozens of honors, awards, and advisory positions because of his community-based leadership in emerging tech. In Georgia he currently serves on the State of Georgia’s AI Advisory Council and has also supported the Georgia Technology Authority’s Broadband “Let’s Connect Georgia” initiative. 

“We have great relationships in the State of Georgia, and we provide huge benefits to Georgians with disabilities. As CIDI expands its research, services and education into emerging technologies, we’ll be able to help Georgians with disabilities even more,” says Curtis-Davidson. 

CIDI is known for its ability to build, nurture, and maintain communities through its decades of research translated to education and services for individuals with disabilities, academia, government, non-profits and corporations. Curtis-Davidson is excited to build on that strong foundation to lead CIDI’s next chapter.

What's Next for CIDI? 

As he begins his tenure as Executive Director of CIDI, Curtis-Davidson sees a wealth of opportunities for CIDI with respect to emerging technologies and innovation. 

“With CIDI’s existing support of University System of Georgia (USG) and Georgia State Government agencies, CIDI is poised to continue helping ensure that Georgians with disabilities can live, learn, work and thrive enabled by accessible emerging technologies”, he says. 

“CIDI has an incredibly strong foundation,” he continues. “We have a strong standard of excellence around our three core pillars of service, research, and education.  We have amazing relationships with local, national, and international organizations. We have an incredible level of talent and decades of knowledge in the Center. We have a lot going for us.”

He sees plenty of opportunities to build on existing strengths.

“We can deepen our partnerships and gain new ones. We can diversify our funding streams to ensure long-term sustainability. We can certainly adopt emerging technologies and research the best ways to use them to help those we serve. But the most exciting part is that we’ll be working on strategic expansion, not fundamental change. We’re building on what already works well.”

CIDI has a longstanding history of being entrusted with important, sustainable programs that have an outsized impact on the wellbeing of the state of Georgia and beyond. For example, the largest braille production line in the state of Georgia is housed in CIDI and has been entrusted with the state’s braille needs. Tools for Life serves hundreds of Georgians a month through their assistive technology lending library. 

“We’ve had an amazing impact, and we’re well poised to increase that impact,” concludes Curtis-Davidson.