Atlanta announces first citywide ‘Govathon,’ hopes to spark collaboration among local startups

• Argonne National Laboratory/Wikimedia Commons
• ‘Let’s do this for the betterment of Atlanta, friend.’

Atlanta announced its first-ever citywide hackathon this week. It’s called “Govathon” and will connect local tech startups with city officials in hopes of addressing some of Atlanta’s needs.

The city will partner with Startup Atlanta, an initiative that’s focused on entrepreneurial growth. Eloisa Klementich, Invest Atlanta’s director of business development, says the “Govathon” will help foster what she says is becoming an increasingly cohesive startup community. In turn, those companies will be able to connect resources and work together on other projects down the road, well beyond these civic partnerships.

“It helps with the networking because these folks will meet other folks,” she tells CL. “It will interconnect the resources that are needed. It’s not the end-all-be-all solution but it’s one piece of an important puzzle. It sends out the message that Atlanta wants you and we want you to grow your business here.”