Call for Code Global Challenge overview
Everything you need to know about the Global Challenge, from the theme to the timeline to submission information, and more.
What is the Call for Code Global Challenge?
In the Call for Code Global Challenge, you can join the fight against climate change by building and deploying open source solutions in the cloud. By participating, you’ll build critical skills for yourself and your teams and deploy solutions to help communities across the globe.
Built on open source principles, the Call for Code Global Challenge asks developers and problem solvers to form teams and develop solutions that address specific problems in unique, clearly demonstrable ways. The most successful solutions are those scoped to have the greatest community impact with the smallest technological footprint. Last year’s winner Agrolly is a perfect example, with its mobile application to help small farmers better understand what to plant, based on weather patterns and crop characteristics.
Three global focus areas
According to the United Nations, “The impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.” Given the far-reaching and devastating effects of climate change, we have divided the 2021 Global Challenge into three sub-themes:
Clean water and sanitation
Water is the natural resource that is most threatened by climate change and a prerequisite for life on Earth. From intelligent solutions for small farmers to recycling showers, technology can make a significant impact on the availability of water and its consumption.
Zero hunger
135 million people suffer from acute hunger, with climate change a major contributing factor. Technology can help farmers to grow more crops in areas on the edge of drought or organizations to quickly distribute perishables from small stores to local homeless shelters.
Responsible production and green consumption
Worldwide consumption and production drives the global economy, yet is inextricably linked to the environment. Technology can help in many ways, from recommendations on energy efficiency to highlighting the carbon footprint of purchases we make.
Prizes
Global Challenge
All winners will receive an invitation to the Call for Code Global Award Announcement and support from the Linux Foundation.
Grand prize winner – $200,000 USD
Dispersed equally across the team and solution deployment support
Runners up
First and second – $25,000 USD
Third and fourth – $10,000 USD
University Challenge
Grand prize – $10,000 USD
Each student team member will receive the opportunity to interview for a potential role at IBM.
Runners up
Each student team member will receive the opportunity to interview for a potential role at IBM.
Regional prizes
Grand prize – $5,000 USD
Dispersed equally across the team
Call for Code Global Challenge timeline
Judging
Submissions will be judged equally across four primary criteria, which evaluate whether the solution solves a real-world problem and uses technology effectively.
Completeness and transferability
How fully has the idea been implemented? Can it achieve an impact in the field? Can it be transferred elsewhere?
Effectiveness and efficiency
Does the solution address a high-priority area? Does it achieve its goal effectively and efficiently? Can it scale?
Design and usability
How good is the design, user experience, and ease of use of the solution? How quickly can it be put to use?
Creativity and innovation
How unique was the approach to solving a long-standing or previously intractable problem?
Rules
- Submissions –
Must use one or more IBM Cloud services or IBM Systems. Use of sponsor or affiliate APIs and open source libraries is also encouraged. - Team size –
Teams of up to five (5) participants, each at least 18 years old, are allowed. - Joining teams –
A participant may not be part of multiple teams. - University students –
Teams competing for the University Challenge must ensure that all team members are enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education. - Participation agreement –
All team members must have accepted the 2021 Participation Agreement at the time they submit their solution to be eligible.(You accept the Participation Agreement when you register for the Global Challenge.) - Application –
Must be new and built for the 2021 competition, but they may use code that was open sourced and publicly available to all other participants as of March 22, 2021. - Winners –
Winning teams will be subject to a code review after submissions close.