'Call for Code' tech competition seeks solutions for climate change, COVID-19
June 20, 2020
Yale University
Developers are asked to solve social problems in exchange for cash prizes.
Technology can serve any purpose, including the greater good. That inspired entrepreneur David Clark to start an annual competition, the Call for Code Global Challenge.
“The basic idea was to create this ‘Justice League’ for good,” he says, “where we would encourage developers around the world to solve social challenges with tech solutions and really create what would be akin to the Nobel Prize for developers.”
Co-founded with IBM and in partnership with the UN, the contest offers cash prizes and helps bring promising ideas to market. It issues a different challenge each year.
Last year’s competition focused on preparing for natural disasters, which are becoming more common as climate change causes more extreme weather.
“The innovations that came out of it quite frankly were amazing and are actually being deployed right now,” Clark says.
For example, the winning team was led by a firefighter who lost a friend to smoke inhalation. He created a wearable device that monitors air quality and firefighters’ vital signs.
This year, the Call for Code is seeking solutions for two of the world’s most pressing problems: COVID-19 and climate change.
So soon, the world may see other winning ideas moving to the front lines.
Reporting credit: Stephanie Manuzak/ChavoBart Digital Media.
Aryana Sayeed, Afghanistan’s well-known singer and women’s rights advocate, has been awarded the 2025 High Note Global Prize, an international honor supported by United Nations Human Rights, for her song “We Believe in Hope.”
The uplifting “We Believe in Hope” anthem by award-winning composer Jeff Beal, renowned Afghan artist and advocate Aryana Sayeed, and lyricist Joan Beal was inspired by the true story of Afghanistan’s courageous first all-female robotics team.
Joint Statement from United Nations Human Rights, the University of Oxford, the International Universities Climate Alliance, and the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance
Students and educators globally will come together virtually on 6 June for the Right Here Right Now Global Youth Climate Summit, hosted by Saïd Business School and UN Human Rights.
Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit to bring together global audiences online and in-person in June 2025 On World Environment Day (5 June), universities from around the world will host a global plenary discussion on human rights and climate change over 24 hours The University of Oxford announces a packed schedule of local events and activities, including public lectures, panel dis cussions, photography exhibits, and interactive workshops
In its eighth year, Call for Code presents a series of SDG-focused hackathons throughout the year, kicking off with a competition to build AI agents
Winning teams from Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Persistent, and independent consultants developed AI-powered solutions to help improve equitable access to essential resources and opportunities
Khatia Buniatishvili, Felukah and Fally Ipupa performed intimate concert at the Recording Academy's New York Townhouse to help raise awareness for climate action
Celebrities Billie Jean King, Barbra Streisand, Neil Young, Ziggy Marley, Carole King, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Pierce Brosnan, Jack Black, Laura Pausini, and more unite with United Nations Human Rights and leading universities to support upcoming global climate justice summit and call world attention to the human rights implications of the climate crisis.
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