IBM's Call for Code puts technology at the service of natural disaster countermeasures

IBM's Call for Code initiative engages the global developer community to build innovative solutions that reduce human suffering and the number of people affected by natural disasters.

Call for Code is an annual global initiative from creator David Clark Cause, with IBM proudly serving as Founding Partner. It is backed by a $30 million, five-year IBM investment and support from The Linux Foundation, which gives the 22 million developers access to IBM technologies around cloud, data, AI and blockchain technologies, along with training and code to help jump start projects. The registration opened on June 18th and will close on August 31.  The 3 winners will be announced in October at a special event. 

The United Nations and American Red Cross are helping frame the challenges being faced and take part in judging. We are excited to have Linus Torvalds, Creator of Linux and Git, Fellow, The Linux Foundation as our first Iconic Developer. Additional judges will be announced throughout the challenge. New Enterprises Associates(NEA) is our official Founding Venture Capital Partner to the cause. NEA will extend the Call for Code into the startup and venture capital ecosystem and the Global Prize Winners will have the opportunity to pitch their solution to NEA for evaluation and feedback.

There's a precedent application to Call for Code. According to Steven Astorino, VP Development – Hybrid Cloud and Analytics & IBM Canada Lab Director, "using IBM solutions like predictive analytics, blockchain and AI, Hydro One was able to restore power  in four days rather than siz days during a massive storm and flood in 2018."

Using vast amounts of data, machine learning and analytics, IBM's technology can be used to predict outcomes of natural disasters accurately allowing for preparation and creation of countermeasures. The company hopes that the open source nature of Call for Code will attract many participants to develop solutions.
Last week's internal event brought together IBMers to join the participation and answer the Call for Code -- allowing teams with diverse skills and expertise across IBM Canada to come together to discuss and build their submissions. There was a great buzz in the room as the teams began to work together. 
 

“At IBM, we harness the power of technologies like AI, blockchain, IoT and cloud to address some of the biggest opportunities and challenges in business,”said Bob Lord, IBM chief digital officer. “Now, with Call for Code, we are calling on all developers to join us and use these same leading edge technologies to help people, their communities and society.”