Now in its fifth year, Call for Code is an annual challenge seeking solutions to the global climate crisis and other societal issues. This year’s focus will be on sustainability, and the teams whose projects earn the top spots will earn up to $200K and continuing support from IBM and its partners. This year’s challenge calls for solutions to the following sustainability issues:
Build effective and efficient ways to quantifiably promote, preserve, and protect biodiversity Reduce global food insecurity through, as examples, improvements to distribution or sustainable farming practices Remove barriers to equal education access and job opportunities to further environmental justice Improve the ability to measure, analyze, or take decisive action on carbon emissions Improve access to affordable and reliable clean energy Improve supply chain transparency and traceability to bring fast and accurate visibility to sustainability issues where they arise Address issues of water scarcity and quality Reduce volume of and demand for materials that create the biggest waste footprint (plastics, electronics, food, textile), and encourage reuse/recycle opportunities
Per an IBM press release: Previous winners include: Once registered, participants will be able to attend Challenge Accelerator events to help fast-track their projects, learn from subject matter experts, access exclusive skills-building materials, and use exclusive toolkits, APIs, and data sets from The Weather Company and participating IBM Ecosystem partners.
2018: Project Owl 2019: Prometeo 2020: Agrolly 2021: Saaf Water
Quick take: this is a fantastic opportunity. Over the past five years the Call for Code community has grown to around half a million innovators from 180 different countries. It’s also been selected as the preferred innovation platform of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance. Call for Code participants join a global force for good the moment they sign up. They get access to IBM partner ecosystem technologies such as cloud services, machine learning models, and developer support. But, best of all, those who make it to the finals will work with global technology experts to implement their solutions. The winners get to be the change they wish to see, with the force of IBM and its partners’ industry position helping them every step of the way. Get more information and sign your team up here at the official Call for Code website.