IBM India Announces Call For Code Global Challenge 2020

Today, Call for Code Founding Partner 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.

On its 75th anniversary, the United Nations is demanding a ‘global reality check’ and has launched the 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 respondents and social activists across China, Columbia, Egypt, India, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States, and found:

• 56% of Indian and 77% of global first responders and developers surveyed agree with the statement 'Climate change is the single most pressing issue facing my generation.' 
• Over 3 quarters (77%) of Indian respondents say that someone they know or love has been impacted by a natural disaster.
• 51% of Indian and 79% of global respondents agree that climate change is something that can be reduced or combatted with technology. 
• Over eight in ten (82%) Indian respondents said they were very interested in working on projects to help solve climate change.
• Almost nine in ten (86%) Indian and 87% of global respondents feel it is important that a potential employer has taken action on climate change
• 82% of Indian and three quarters of global respondents agree that the open source community can help scale climate change solutions to communities in need.
• Eight in ten global respondents agree that most people want to do something to help combat climate change, but don't know where to start.

In 2019, the Call for Code Asia Pacific Challenge was won by India team Purva Suchak, who built a solution to prevent pervasive flooding by continuously checking water bodies and collating data with weather forecast information. IBM will announce the regional finalists from Asia Pacific for the Call for Code 2020 Global Challenge in September and winner in October.

“India is home to one of the fastest growing developer bases in the world, a majority of whom are committed to tackling real-world problems. In the past two editions, we have also seen increasing participation and winning teams from India in the Call for Code challenge. With climate change as this year’s theme, we can expect some path-breaking innovative solutions to be developed during the competition,” said Priya Mallya, Country Leader, Developer Ecosystem, IBM India.

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 positioned to connect leading humanitarian experts with talented developers around the world,” said Bob Lord, IBM Senior Vice President of Cognitive Applications and Developer Ecosystems. 

“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. 

IBM and David Clark Cause are happy to launch the third year of Call for Code in Geneva with returning sponsor Persistent Systems, and new supporters Nearform, and Morgan Stanley. We also welcome returning supporters Bank of China, Cognizant, and Infosys, in addition to the broad ecosystem of companies, 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 Cark Cause.