Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall on Jan. 17, 2012, honored the global “hackers with a conscience” competition, Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), sponsored by the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

RHoK holds several global “hackathons,” with various chapters participating from around the world. Volunteers work to create applications for smart phones to assist with social awareness and crisis management. GTRI, along with Georgia Tech’s ATDC and VentureLab, organized and hosted the event, held Dec. 2 and 3, 2012, on the Georgia Tech campus.

“My council colleagues and I were so impressed by the community spirit of these technology experts who live, work, and study in the heart of Atlanta,” Hall said. “By presenting this year's winning teams with the highest honor that the Atlanta City Council can bestow, we wanted to encourage other hackers to look to the communities around them for inspiration in solving real social problems.”

The Atlanta chapter produced two winning teams, both of which were well-represented with Georgia Tech students. One team created a mobile phone application to assist restaurants in their distribution of excess food to nonprofit organizations, while the other winning team created a mobile application that uses local crime data to alert visitors and residents of particular crimes in city areas.

Hall’s proclamation, presented to members of the winning teams prior to the council meeting, recognized GTRI and RHoK for “its commitment to ‘real technology solutions for real people.’”

Robert Delano, a research scientist with GTRI’s Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory (EOSL), organized this and past RHoK events in Atlanta. “It’s great for GTRI to be included in this recognition,” he said. “One of our organization’s core values is ‘Innovation,’ and these young programmers definitely shine a spotlight on fresh and creative ways to solve real world problems.”

Atlanta City Council District 2 encompasses the Georgia Tech campus, Technology Square and GTRI.