RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – As many on North Carolina’s coast are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Florence and others recover from Hurricane Michael, IBM is already working on better responses – if and when disaster strikes again.
That was in full view Tuesday when the tech giant invited teams of developers to present the most cutting-edge solutions at its RTP headquarters.
It’s all part of its inaugural Call for Code initiative – a competitive challenge that asks software engineers from around the world to save lives by building systems that will improve disaster preparedness.
The prize: $200,000 and the chance for the winning solution to be implemented by IBM’s Corporate Service Corp – the equivalent of the corporate Peace Corps.
IBM pledges $30M, calls for coders to join global effort combating natural disasters
“IBM cannot prevent natural disasters but we can help on the relief end,” said Guillermo Miranda, IBM’s vice president and global head of Corporate Citizenship. “We are one of the largest employers in North Carolina. We take this very personally; what happens to our people and our community is something that we care about.”
Launched this year, the five-year initiative is backed by $30 million in funding. Already, more than 100,000 developers have heeded the call, with some 2,500 apps created to help prepare for emergency situations – using everything from drones and artificial intelligence to blockchain, in new ways to help communities be more resilient.
At Tuesday’s event, six of the 30 finalists presented their innovations. The final winner will be announced at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on October 29.
“If we have assets that can help, then instead of the traditional philanthropy of writing checks or delivering food, what we do is use technology,” said Miranda. “Yes, of course, we also write some checks. But what we are talking about is, how you do the next thing beyond the ‘feeling good’ moment? You help to prevent, and you help to recover.”
Two local teams among finalists
Among the Call for Code finalists are two North Carolina- based teams of developers.
Call for Code finalists Lance Newman and Melissa Farrell, who developed the app called Community, which helps households and neighborhoods collaborate disaster relief efforts.
The first includes Thomas Ward, Rahul Nahar, Apolo Tankeh, Mallikarjun Motagi and Kashyap Nagaraja. They are the creators of Risk Insights, a platform that includes hundreds of news sources and alert services for monitoring threats to supply chain and operation.
The second team is the duo of Melissa Farrell and Lance Newman, who developed the app called Community, which helps households and neighborhoods collaborate disaster relief efforts.
“The point of Community is that it’s going to help you keep track of all the logistics of planning and recovery, so you can focus on keeping people around you safe,” Newman told the 120-strong crowd packed into IBM’s Employee Activity and Fitness Center.
Many gathered there were local response organizations, executives and students from area universities, who later evaluated the innovations to help determine which tools could be implemented.
Track record
This isn’t the first time IBM has worked on hurricane relief solutions.
In response to Hurricane Irma last year, the firm teamed up with United Way to develop CARLA — or Cognitive Automated Response Learning Agent.
Heather Black, United Way’s 2-1-1 Statewide Strategy Director.
The service leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) to understand what the user is asking so that they can get information and resources (in English and Spanish) by accessing either www.211.org or local 2-1-1 websites.
“The power of people is tremendous. And the power of technology is tremendous. When we bring all that together, we can really make magnificent change,” said Heather Black, United Way’s 2-1-1 Statewide Strategy Director.
“North Carolina is in an unfortunately unique experience of having two significant hurricanes in a two-year period. There’s a lot of work to be done, and it takes a lot of people to do that work. When we can add technology to the hammers and nails and tarps and racks, and make our work more efficient and smart, then that makes our people power more impactful.”
IBM, Asheville’s Collider seek coding volunteers to help Florence-hit communities
