The World Health Organization (WHO) has partnered with Microsoft, Facebook and other tech companies for Covid-19 Hackathon. The Hackathon dubbed the #BuildforCOVID19Hackathon is aimed at developing software that will tackle the coronavirus global pandemic. Devpost hosts the online Hackathon.
The Hackathon was announced on Tuesday 24th March 2020 and will begin accepting entries today, 26th March 2020. The list of participating tech companies includes Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok, WeChat, Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook, Slack and Giphy. All nine of them will provide resources to support participants throughout the application process.
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Since WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, governments have instructed citizens to practice social distancing, and most companies have enforced remote work policies. According to John Hopkins University, there are more than 375,000 cases of Coronavirus and over 16,000 deaths around the world. Given the current isolation experienced within communities across the globe, the organizers want to create a safe space for developers to ideate, experiment and build solutions to tackle this crisis.
#BuildforCOVID19Hackathon is open to software developers that can develop around health, vulnerable populations, businesses, education, entertainment and community. The deadline for submission of project is Monday 30th March 2020 and selected projects will be announced on Friday, 3rd April 2020.
Similar initiatives set up by tech companies to address the global pandemic include Facebook’s initiative using Messenger to disseminate updates about Covid-19, and Microsoft’s chat bot technology to provide Coronavirus screening.
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