For Georgia Tech’s Yanni Loukissas, the core question is simple: “How can we inspire people to use data as a means of changing the way they see the places they live?” His work shows that data can be more than numbers. “It can reshape how everyday residents understand and care for their communities.”

It’s been 10 years since Rise of the Rest bus came to Atlanta, and a lot has changed. Entrepreneurial communities that were once just forming have now matured, early seeds have begun to bear fruit, and the city has emerged as a powerhouse — not just in the Southeast, but as it gears up to become one of the top five tech hubs in the country.

A record of 17 startups, focused on a diverse range of topics from healthcare and logistics to artificial intelligence and robotics, graduated from the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)’s program on October 21. The event was held at the historic Biltmore Georgian Ballroom, located on the ground floor of the new Biltmore Innovation Center in Tech Square, and celebrated the 2025 ATDC Graduating Class and ATDC’s 45th Anniversary.

As crisp mornings return to Tech Square, we’re celebrating a summer full of energy and creativity, including sharing innovative ideas during Midtown Day, as part of Atlanta Tech Week, and engaging in community service events with LifeLine Animal Project, the American Red Cross, and Agape Youth & Family Center. Our fall calendar is rich with innovative and creative events designed to spark connection, curiosity, and community. But first, let’s take a moment to relive our favorite summer memories!

On September 25th, Women in Technology (WIT), a nonprofit organization that is “supporting the women who are shaping the future”, hosted the 2025 WIT Career Fair at the TSQ ATL Clubhouse. Over 220 attendees engaged in dynamic conversations with tech-driven companies and formed valuable professional connections with community members.

TSQ Tuesday is a weekly happy hour/networking event that turns casual conversations into real-world collaborations, connecting researchers, entrepreneurs, and technologists. For Weiyuan “Vera” Wang, a chance meeting at the event sparked a partnership that could transform how live-animal research is conducted, reducing stress for animals while improving data accuracy.

“We hope to get everyone to catch ‘entrepreneur’s disease,’” says John Avery, referring to the contagious excitement of entrepreneurship. As director of Georgia Tech’s ATDC, Avery has helped cultivate a collaborative environment in Tech Square where mentors and founders spark ideas, share advice, and turn big concepts into startups.

San Francisco–based startup Pylon joined Bits of Good at The Clubhouse for a tech talk on modern web development, fresh off a $31M Series B.

Startups need talent. Students need experience. But too often, cost keeps them apart. Georgia Tech’s Office of Commercialization is breaking down that barrier—funding internships that give students real-world exposure while helping young companies scale.

Imagine an Atlanta where there’s a pathway for every breakthrough in a Georgia Tech lab to launch into a startup and scale to a billion-dollar “unicorn”. This isn’t a distant fantasy—it’s the vision that Dr. Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, Georgia Tech’s chief commercialization officer, is championing.

“It’s the smell of the future,” says Mya Love Griesbaum, reflecting on her work with fungi. The 21-year-old materials researcher has come to appreciate the earthy odor of decomposing matter, a scent that symbolizes possibility: a future where fungi clean up pollution and transform the fashion industry. As the founder of Mycorrhiza Fashion, she is developing a sustainable approach to textiles by cultivating fungi-derived materials that can help address the pollution problem in the fashion industry.

At Memento in Atlanta, Sam Thurman’s 3D-printed light sculptures transformed architectural principles into luminous art, blending geometry, symmetry, and design to create spaces that resonated with both form and meaning. His debut show, Speculative Futures, invited viewers to experience how architecture and technology intersect with creative expression.

Atlanta’s video game industry has quietly built one of the Southeast's most dynamic tech sectors. With over 200 studios operating across Georgia, many clustered in and around Atlanta, the region is gaining national attention as a serious destination for game developers.

Shamim Shoomali is a PhD student in Georgia Tech’s Digital Media program. She works out of the TSRB building in Tech Square, blending art, design, and technology—and lately, documenting everyday campus life through her illustrated book, Between Classes. Her path to this interdisciplinary calling began thousands of miles away in Iran.

Midtown Day gave Atlanta Tech Week a massive pulse, turning Tech Square into a playground for big ideas, chance encounters, and innovation in motion. From sunrise jogs to sunset happy hours, the day captured what makes this district hum: people coming together to build, test, and debate the future.