Wed, 07/29/2015 - 00:00

LOS ANGELES (July 29, 2015) – rhubarb studios, a technology venture company, announced a collaboration with Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Summer of Civic Hacking to marshal the best talents of LA’s technology sector to address some of the city’s most pressing challenges. This event serves as a kick-off for rhubarb studio’s hackathon series, "Hack for Humanity,” which seeks solutions for public good in the private sector. The first hackathon is focused on using innovative technology to find new approaches to addressing the water crisis. Hackers will work non-stop for 48 hours on the weekend-long event, Aug. 21-23, in Downtown Los Angeles. Hackers, makers and problem solvers will work intensively in teams to create innovative solutions to the water crisis, under the themes of “clean, collect and consume.” “We all need to actively respond to the drought—from the individual Angeleno to the largest organizations, we must all work to 'Save the Drop,'” Mayor Garcetti said. “Our efforts to engage the private sector and LA’s tech and creative communities has the potential to be a force multiplier on the great work we’re already doing to improve water conservation throughout our region and meet our aggressive water saving goals outlined in my Sustainable City pLAn.” rhubarb studios is located in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA), an emerging regional hub for technology startups in Southern California. Hackers will gather at rhubarb studios headquarters, on the 14th floor of the iconic U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest building in the western U.S. owned by real estate developer OUE. OUE is proud to contribute to solving the most pressing problems of our age and is contributing to the burgeoning tech scene in DTLA. This is the latest effort in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s work to expand open data services and hackathons in the City of Los Angeles to expand civic engagement. He is a strong supporter of efforts to engage the best and brightest civic leaders, business advisers, technologists, inventors, VCs and subject matter experts in addressing LA’s most pressing challenges. “With the Mayor’s support, we can leverage the phenomenal SoCal tech community to replace the outdated 1980s water solutions with modern technology fit for the future,” said Cauri Jaye, CEO of rhubarb studios. “Putting hyper-intelligent people together with a clear mission and a valuable outcome is a recipe for success: We can clean, collect and consume water better, faster and cheaper now." The inaugural event of the Hack for Humanity series will culminate in a special press conference announcement, followed by an award ceremony for top prize winners to close out the weekend event. A pre-hack meetup event will take place Aug. 1 to rally hackers, sponsors and technology resources ahead of the main weekend event. Key event supporters include: rhubarb studios; Intel Corporation; OUE; Pivotal; Esri; IQ Corporation; Hack for LA; Hackster.io; and many more. Click here to register and participate in the event. To submit a project to the hackathon, click here. For real-time updates, follow @_rhubarbstudios #waterhack on Twitter.