The world is perched precariously in the first year of this decade. This year has put us on very short notice in terms of our patience as a society. We already are witnessing hot winters and cold summers in various parts of the world. Rains are hitting is when we least expect them and dry spells are running in otherwise rainy season. And on top of all this, we have a pandemic running all around the globe.
Things are looking very grim, but all is not lost. All that we need is a set of smart people to come together and synergize their efforts to solve these burning issues. If we can put all our positive energies together and think constructively, we can solve the vital and critical parts of these major problems.
We have a lot of good and efficient thinkers who can compartmentalize and sort out problems. The need is to take these problems are break them up into solvable components that will help address the major pain points and solve them reliably. The problems we are talking about are not simple, we are talking about climate change and COVID19. Both have deep and significant impact on our society. All the countries in the world need these solved.
If you look at the pandemic, the whole globe needs help in three important areas
- Crisis Communication
- Remote Education
- Community Cooperation
Crisis communication the key need of the hour as the flow of information is key to address and properly manage the situation and any complications that arise due to the virus. And as we all are aware, the education sector is the first one to move to an online models so that the students do not have to pay the price of the lockdown. But remote learning comes with it’s own challenges of scale and stability that need a lot of solutions. Community cooperation is the biggest weapon in our armory to tackle the complications that social distancing and day to day life are bringing in due to the pandemic.
When it comes to climate change, the important challenges are
- Water Sustainability
- Energy Sustainability
- Disaster Resiliency
These topics are self-explanatory to even school children. To put it in a nutshell, we cannot live without water and we need to ensure that we use this resource responsibly and ensure that the generations after us also have water to sustain life. Energy needs a paradigm shift to move to more eco-friendly and sustainable modes. Whenever a disaster like an earthquake or a flood hits us, we should have enough measures in place to be able to manage the impact, fix things and get back to our lives.
So, if you are a developer and want to help with either fighting COVID-19 or Climate Change, read on
Four easy steps to get involved
- Accept the challenge
Learn about the competition, see what you can win, and start coding with a free IBM Cloud account. - Build with open tech
Learn how you can make the most of resources like code patterns, expert videos, and tutorials to build your idea. - Find your squad
Whether you need to find teammates, meet experts, ask questions, or share ideas – there’s a community for you. - Submit your idea
Tell us what you’ve built and how. Submit this with your Participation agreement for a chance to win $200,000.
Important links:
- Developers interested in participating as a competitor, can find all necessary information here
- Organisations interested in supporting as a sponsor, can find all necessary information
- Find reference materials and technical resources on the COVID-19 pandemic here.
- Starter kits starter kits and resources.
Deadlines:
The final submissions deadline is on July 31st with the Global Challenge winners being announced in October. Developers have the chance to be awarded $200,000, Open source support from the Linux foundation, meetings with mentors and investors, and see their solution actually get deployed through Code and Response to further exemplify using tech for good.
What are you waiting for? Get your thinking cap on a get to it!
