IBM on Monday launched the Call for Code 2021 Global Challenge in India with a focus on climate change and sustainability. Launched on the occasion of World Water Day, it has clean water and sanitation as one among the three key themes; the others being zero hunger, and responsible production and green consumption.
“In our first three years of Call for Code, we've consistently had more people participate from India than anywhere else. In recognition of this extraordinary engagement, IBM has this year added a standalone award of $5,000 for India. IBM highly values the developer ecosystem and open-source community in India and its desire to help make a real difference with technology,” the company said in a statement.
Call for Code represents IBM’s largest and most ambitious Tech for Good platform – bringing together the world’s developers and problem-solvers to solve pressing issues. As part of the Call for Code Challenge, winning solutions are successfully incubated, field-tested, and deployed in communities where they can make the greatest impact.
There are 24.5 million developers in the world, with India being the second-largest at 4.1 million and the fastest growing developer base globally. India and the United States are the only nations projected to have more than five million developers by 2025.
Over the last couple of years, multiple teams from India have achieved success in the Call for Code.
IBM started the journey of Call for Code, three years back as a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment. Since its inception in 2018, this movement has seen over 4,00,000 developer participants across 179 countries.
With Call for Code, IBM is equipping the developer ecosystem globally with technologies like Open Hybrid Cloud, AI, Automation and Quantum to help address some of the biggest issues.
“At IBM, we not only solve business problems, but also put the power of tech to work for good. Being a responsible steward of technology is core to IBM’s culture and GoodTech is at the heart of it. The Call for Code Global Challenge 2021 reiterates this commitment to sustainability and to drive technology innovation in India, for India and the world,” said Sandip Patel, MD, IBM ISA.