2023 Call for Code Global Challenge (Round 4)

Impactful sustainability actions are needed now to curb the worst consequences of climate change. To do the most good, sustainability solutions should have global potential, but they also need to benefit local communities, especially marginalized communities that are most often polluted or left out of policymaking. Technology is key, as open innovation can address sustainability challenges effectively and at scale.

They’re calling on teams of developers and problem solvers to build tech solutions that leverage IBM AI technologies to address specific global sustainability problems in clear and unique ways. By participating in the Global Challenge, in addition to the chance to win prizes and implementation support, you’ll gain skills in emerging tech like AI and machine learning and contribute to projects that have potential to help the planet.

How can technology improve sustainable resource management, reduce pollution, and protect biodiversity to create a greener future for all? Your Global Challenge solution should address one of the diverse challenges of sustainability:

• Improve the ability to measure, analyze, or take decisive action on carbon emissions
• Improve access to affordable and reliable clean energy
• Improve supply chain transparency and traceability to bring fast and accurate visibility to sustainability issues where they arise
• Address issues of water scarcity and quality
• Reduce volume of and demand for materials that create the biggest waste footprint (plastics, electronics, food, textiles), and encourage reuse/recycle opportunities
• Build effective and efficient ways to quantifiably promote, preserve, and protect biodiversity
• Reduce global food insecurity through, as examples, improvements to distribution or sustainable farming practices.

Prize Information

• Win prizes from a pool with funding of up to $1.4M USD! For 2023, the Global Challenge will be comprised of multiple rounds. Teams can compete for Challenge Round prizes. At the end of the year, winners from all Challenge Rounds will compete for Grand Prizes.
• The Global Challenge grand prizes will be awarded to one winner in each of the categories defined above under the “Challenge Round Prizes” section. Global Challenge grand prizes will be awarded as follows:
  • Startup/ISV
    • $50,000 USD (Distributed by Call for Code LLC)
    • Personalized IBM AI discussion with subject matter expert
    • Assigned IBM mentor
    • Solution implementation support from the Call for Code ecosystem
  • General Developer
    • $50,000 USD (Distributed by Call for Code LLC)
    • Personalized IBM AI discussion with subject matter expert
    • Meeting with IBM Executive team member
    • Open source support from The Linux Foundation
    • Solution implementation support from the Call for Code ecosystem
  • University
    • $50,000 USD (Distributed by Call for Code LLC)
    • $30,000 grant to team members’ educational institution (split between institutions, as applicable)
    • Explore IBM job opportunities as further set forth below
    • Assigned IBM mentor
    • Open source support from The Linux Foundation
    • Solution implementation support from the Call for Code ecosystem.

Geographical Areas

Regions are determined by geographical groupings assigned by Sponsors in their sole discretion. The highest scoring submission that has surpassed the minimum scoring requirements in each Region will be awarded a prize. The Regions include:

• Nordic, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Central and Eastern Europe
• Australia, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Korea
• Canada
• Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
• France
• China
• India and South Asia
• Italy
• Japan
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa
• Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Israel
• United Kingdom and Ireland
• United States

A participant’s Region will be determined based on the country provided upon registration of the individual participants and participant’s team members. Participants’ team Region will be assigned by the Sponsors in their sole discretion based on the countries provided by participants upon registration.

Eligibility Criteria

Teams will be required to identify in the Challenge Platform which Prize Category they will be competing in. In order to be eligible for one of the three (3) Prize Categories, all team members must meet the eligibility criteria below for the selected Prize Category during all or any portion of the Challenge Round participated in:

• Startup/ISVs: All team members must be employed by a startup or Independent Software Vendor (ISV). A startup is defined as a company that is privately held and has been in business for less than 10 years from the start date of the Challenge Round. An ISV is defined as a company specializing in making and selling software, may be publicly or privately owned, and can be established for any length of time.
• University: All team members must be students enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education.
• General Developer: Team members can be from any audience: freelance or enterprise developers, students, startups, etc.

Judging Criteria

Each submission will be scored based on the following criteria with a minimum score of 0 and maximum score of 20 points, with the final score being the average of the judges’ scores.

• Completeness and transferability
• Effectiveness and efficiency
• Design and usability
• Creativity and innovation

For more information, visit IBM.