GENEVA, Feb. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Headquarters
of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights – Today, Call for Code Founding Partner IBM (NYSE:
IBM) and Creator David Clark Cause, in partnership with United
Nations Human Rights and the Linux Foundation announced this year's
Call for Code Global Challenge, inviting the world's software
developers and innovators to help fight climate change with open
source-powered technology.
Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8668651-ibm-2020-call-for-code-global-challenge/
On its 75th anniversary, the United Nations is
demanding a 'global reality check' and has launched the
biggest-ever global conversation on how to address the world's most
pressing issues such as climate change. Heeding the UN's rallying
cry to help build the future we want, IBM is joining forces with
key UN agencies and world leaders to help tackle the climate
crisis.
Following two successful years, the 2020 Call for Code Global
Challenge encourages and fosters the creation of practical
applications built on open source software including Red Hat
OpenShift, IBM Cloud, IBM Watson, IBM Blockchain, and data from The
Weather Company. The goal is to employ technology in new ways that
can make an immediate and lasting humanitarian impact in
communities around the world.
A recent global IBM study conducted by Morning Consult
surveyed more than 3,000 developers, first responders and social
activists across China, Columbia,
Egypt, India, Japan,
Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States, and found:
- 77% of first responders and developers surveyed agree with the
statement 'Climate change is the single most pressing issue facing
my generation.'
- 79% of respondents agree that climate change is something that
can be reduced or combated with technology.
- 87% of respondents feel it is important that a potential
employer has taken action on climate change.
- Three quarters of respondents agree that the open source
community can help scale climate change solutions to communities in
need.
- Eight in ten respondents agree that most people want to do
something to help combat climate change, but don't know where to
start.
Over 180,000 participants from 165 nations took part in Call for
Code in 2019; they created more than 5,000 applications focused on
natural disaster preparedness and relief. This year Call for Code
is challenging applicants to create innovations based on open
source technologies to help halt and reverse the impact of climate
change.
"There is an urgent need to take action against climate change,
and IBM is uniquely positioned to connect leading humanitarian
experts with the most talented and passionate developers around the
world," said Bob Lord, IBM Senior Vice President of Cognitive
Applications and Developer Ecosystems. "IBM is determined to
identify, deploy, and scale technology solutions that can help save
lives, empower people, and create a better world for future
generations."
Lord noted that IBM has been mobilizing throughout the company,
from policy commitments on climate to IBM's weather forecasting
capabilities powered by AI and supercomputers.
"Over these past two years through Call for Code UNDRR has seen
the potential for developers to tackle major societal challenges,
and developers will have a crucial role in our response to the
climate emergency," said Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of
the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk
Reduction. "Climate change is the most critical issue of our time,
with a multitude of localized contributing factors and cascading
effects that cannot be solved by a single organization. We need a
global network to fight this together."
IBM and David Clark Cause are thrilled to launch the third year
of Call for Code in Geneva with
new sponsor Unity Technologies, returning sponsor Persistent
Systems, returning supporters Johnson & Johnson and Capgemini,
and new supporters Red Hat and Nearform. We also welcome continued
collaboration from returning supporters Bank of China, Morgan Stanley, Cognizant, Infosys,
Arrow Electronics, and the Clinton Foundation, in addition to the
broad ecosystem of companies, foundations, universities, and
celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres,
Jonas Brothers, Sting, and
Morgan Freeman supporting the
initiative.
"As part of the 75th anniversary of the United
Nations, we are proud to work with our Founding Partner IBM to help
commemorate this momentous occasion by focusing the 2020 Call for
Code Global Challenge on climate change. By inspiring and
empowering developers around the world to help with this global
threat, Call for Code can generate real impact," said David Clark, Creator of Call for Code and CEO of
David Clark Cause. "I am also excited President Bill Clinton returns for the third year as an
eminent judge for the Challenge, along with leading experts in
human rights, disaster response, business, and technology from all
over the world."
Last year's Call for Code Global Challenge winning team,
Prometeo, created a wearable device that measures carbon monoxide,
smoke concentration, humidity, and temperature to monitor
firefighter safety in real-time as well as to help improve their
health outcomes in the long-term. The solution has been developed
further through IBM's Code and Response program and has just
completed its first wildfire field test during a controlled burn
with the Grups de Reforç d'Actuacions Forestals (GRAF) and the Grup
d'Emergències Mèdiques (GEM) dels Bombers de la Generalitat de
Catalunya near Barcelona,
Spain. Prometeo was developed by a team comprising a veteran
firefighter, an emergency medical nurse, and three developers. As
recently piloted, the Prometeo hardware-software solution is based
on multiple IBM Cloud services.
Other applications like 2018 Call for Code winner Project Owl
and 2018 Puerto Rico Call for Code hackathon winner DroneAid have
also been cultivated through the Code and Response program.
Visit CallforCode.org to join the community and learn more
about the challenge, which will open for submissions on
March 22, World Water Day 2020.
Additional details, a schedule of in-person and virtual events, and
training and enablement for Call for Code will be available
at https://developer.ibm.com/callforcode/.
Download the full IBM study conducted by Morning Consult
here.
About Call for Code
Developers have revolutionized the
way people live and interact with virtually everyone and
everything. Where most people see challenges, developers see
possibilities. That's why David Clark Cause created and
launched Call for Code in 2018 alongside Founding Partner
IBM. This five-year, $30 million global initiative is a
rallying cry to developers to use their skills and mastery of the
latest technologies, and to create new ones, to drive positive and
long-lasting change across the world with their code. Call for Code
global winning solutions, among others, are further developed and
deployed via IBM's Code and Response initiative.
About UN75
The United Nations launched the UN75
campaign - the largest, most inclusive conversation on the role of
global cooperation in building a better future for all. The
campaign will see the UN spark dialogues throughout 2020 in diverse
settings across the world. In a 'global reality check', four
innovative data streams will build the first ever repository of
crowd-sourced solutions to major global challenges, including
climate change. The UN75 dialogues together with a 'One-minute
Survey' that anyone can take, available here:
https://un75.online/
MEDIA CONTACTS
Deirdre Leahy
IBM Developer Media Relations
845-863-4552
deirdre.leahy@ibm.com
Chris Blake
IBM Developer Media Relations
415-613-1120
blakechr@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM