Today at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam, IBM presented their new global initiative to encourage developers to create innovation and technology for good. IBM strongly believes software can play a crucial part in global emergency relief efforts. Through their Call for Code initiative, they work to improve natural disaster preparedness and relief.
It’s not a hackathon; it’s a movement.
There are billions of dollars spent in relief efforts and billions of dollars made in the tech industry each year, but how do we energise the world to focus those resources for good?
The founding partners of Call for Code are the United Nations, Red Cross, Linux Foundation and of course IBM. IBM plans to play a crucial part in facilitating teams working on these challenges by providing code, support and regular events to share knowledge and skills.
Preparing for natural disasters instead of waiting for them to happen.
Among the judges of the initiative will be Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel. As a reward, Call for Code will offer a cash prize of 200,000 USD, a venture capitalist introduction and opportunity to pitch your idea to potential funders and, most importantly, the chance to deploy your solution with an IBM Corporate Service Corps team.
How will you answer the call?