During a keynote address at the VivaTech conference held in Parris, last May, IBM Chairman, President and CEO, Ginni Rometty committed IBM technology plus $30 million over five years in the annual “Call for Code Global Initiative” to help when disasters strike. The goal is to tap into data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud, and IoT technologies to help people, communities, and society when and where needed.
The “Call for Code Global Initiative is asking developers to create solutions to significantly improve preparedness for natural disasters and relief wherever they may hit. Several teams will win the competition with one team winning the first annual “Call for Code Global Prize” supported by the United Nations Human Rights Office www.ohchr.org/EN/pages/home.aspx, and the American Red Cross International team http://www.redcross.org.
For example, developers may create technology to include an app that uses weather data and supply chain information to alert pharmacies to increase supplies of medicine, bottled water, and other items based on predicted weather-related disruption. Or an app might predict when and where a disaster will be most severe, so emergency crews can be dispatched ahead of time with the right number of people ready to treat those in need.
IBM’s investment will fund teams with access to developer tools, technologies, free code, and training with experts. The winning team will receive a financial prize, but they will also have access to long term support to help move their ideas from prototype to real world applications. This includes ongoing developer support through IBM’s partnership with the Linux Foundation https://www.linxfoundation.org.
As Brad Kieserman, Vice President of Disaster Cycle Services at the American Red Cross, said, “Partnerships and technology developed through the “Call for Code Global Initiative” can allow for smarter and faster response efforts which are critical to help people who are in need of more immediate and more efficient assistance.”
Registering for the “Call for Code” Initiative requires:
- Applicants to register at http://Callforcode.org
- Individuals or teams of up to five people, must submit projects between June 18, 2018 and August 31, 2018
- Thirty semi-finalists to be selected in September 2018 along with the winner will be announced October 2018
For additional details, for “Call for Code” go to http://www.developer,ibm.com/callforcode or email Chris Andrews at candrews@us.ibm.com.