At the Viva Technology Conference in Paris, IBM Chairman, President and CEO Ginni Rometty [called on the technology industry to help build a better future], committing IBM technology and $30 million USD over five years in the annual [Call for Code] Global Initiative.

IBM is partnering with [David Clark Cause], the [United Nations Human Rights Office], the [American Red Cross], and the [Linux Foundation]. Celebrities like Andra Day, the GRAMMY-nominated singer and human rights advocate known for her hit song "Rise Up", are also involved.

The Call for Cloud has three objectives:

• Demonstrate that IBM technologies in areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Cloud, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are relevant in solving the world's biggest challenges
• Encourage developers to contribute their time and talent to open source projects that benefit the greater good
• Generate fresh ideas on how to tackle age-old problems that plague society

Each year will have a different focus. This year, the focus is in preventing, responding to and recovering from natural disasters, especially important with 2017 ranked as one of the worst years on record for catastrophic events, including fires, floods, earthquakes and storms.

(Worldwide, [over a million people have died from natural disasters since the year 2000]. Natural disasters are not a new phenomenon, but they have [long-term negative consequences], and are worsened by global climate change and the inept and corrupt governments and charities involved. The crises in [Syria] and [Puerto Rico] are two recent examples of how a natural disaster can become a lot worse.)

Call for Code invites developers to create new applications to help communities and people better prepare for natural disasters. For example, developers may create an app that uses weather data and supply chain information to alert pharmacies to increase supplies of medicine, bottled water and other items based on predicted weather-related disruption. Or it could be an app that predicts when and where the disaster will be most severe, so emergency crews can be dispatched ahead of time in proper numbers to treat those in need.

Can't think of any ideas for an app? Here are some TED videos that might inspire you:

• [Global problems bigger than climate change]
• [Can technology solve our big problems?]
• [The way we think about charity is wrong]
• [Can corporate profits fund the world’s biggest problems?]
• [How to make filthy water drinkable]
• [Let's talk crap. Seriously.]
• [How capitalism and philanthropy can collaborate to solve big problems]
• [Social experiments to end poverty]
• [A third way of thinking about aid]

IBM's $30 million USD investment over five years will fund access to developer tools, technologies, free code and training with experts. To raise awareness and interest in Call for Code, IBM is coordinating interactive educational events, hackathons and community support for developers around the world in more than 50 cities, including Amsterdam, Bengaluru, Berlin, Delhi, Dubai, London, New York, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Tel Aviv.

Call for Cloud is organized as a competition, similar to the crowdsourcing community TopCoder that I mentioned in my now infamous 2012 post [Viggle, Mechanical Turk and the Talent Cloud].

(My earliest memory of using a contest for fresh ideas was back in 1975, after the city of Tucson purchased the Tucson Rapid Transit Company. Rather than hiring an expensive marketing agency to run focus groups or surveys, the City of Tucson published in the local newspaper a "Name that Bus" contest. The winning entry was [Sun Tran], submitted by 25-year-old college student [Benjamin Rios]. He won the grand prize: $150 portable television!)

The winning Call for Cloud team will receive a financial prize and access to long-term support to help move their idea from prototype to real-world application.

Developers can register today at the [Callforcode.org] website. Projects can be submitted by individuals – or teams of up to five people – between June 18, 2018 and August 31, 2018. If you would like me on your team, as an honorary member, technical adviser or mentor, please let me know!

Thirty semi-finalists will be selected in September. A prominent jury, including some of the most iconic technologists in the world, will choose the winning solution from three finalists. The winner will be announced in October 2018 during a live-streamed concert and award event coordinated by David Clark Cause.

Additional details, a full schedule of in-person and virtual events, and training and enablement for Call for Code are available at [www.developer.ibm.com/callforcode] website.