Call for Code expands the challenge to mitigate COVID.

The 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge has expanded its focus to mitigate
problems associated with the deadly COVID-19.

The Challenge seeks the world’s developers to build technology solutions for COVID-19 and climate change since the world is facing unprecedented interconnected challenges.

The winner of the challenge takes home $200,000 USD cash, an open-source project support from The Linux Foundation and many more.

Previously, the deadline for the submission was April 27, 2020, but it has been extended to July 31, 2020.

For developers who do not know what to build for Call for Code, starter kits are made available to them. These quick-start guide helps developers to understand the scope of the problem.

The submission could be on; educating children when schools are closed, helping communities best distribute limited resources and crisis communication.

“We are at a critical point in the global response to COVID-19. We need everyone to get involved in this massive effort to keep the world safe.” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO said.

Submissions will be judged equally across 4 primary criteria which evaluate whether the solution solves a real-world problem and uses technology effectively.

They are:
 Completeness and transferability
 Effectiveness and efficiency
 Design and usability
 Creativity and innovation

The submissions must use one or more IBM Cloud services or IBM Systems. The use of sponsor or affiliate APIs and open source libraries is also encouraged.

Teams of up to five (5) participants, each at least 18 years old, are allowed.
A participant must not be part of multiple teams. All team members must have accepted the 2020 Participation Agreement at the time they submit to be eligible.

Also, applications must be new and built for the 2020 competition, but they may use code that was open-sourced and publicly available to all other participants as of February 26, 2020.