Call for Code founding partner IBM and its creator, David Clark Cause, have announced the winner of the fourth annual Call for Code Global Challenge, which invited innovators across the globe to combat climate change with open source-powered technology. The top prize this year went to Saaf Water, an accessible water quality sensor and analytics platform created, in particular, for people living in rural localities.

Saaf Water will receive $200,000 and support to incubate, test, and deploy their solution from the IBM Service Corps and expert partners in the Call for Code ecosystem. The India-based team will also receive assistance from The Linux Foundation to open source their application so developers around the world can improve, scale, and use the technology.

A panel of some of the most eminent leaders in sustainability, business and technology, including former President Bill Clinton, awarded Saaf Water the grand prize. Four runners-up were also recognized. Each finalist created a solution to problems addressing the climate change competition’s three sub-themes: clean water and sanitation; zero hunger; and responsible production and green consumption.

2021 Top Solutions Tackling Climate Change

Four climate solutions were honored in addition to Saaf Water: Green Farm, an app to make agriculture more sustainable by, among other things, connecting local producers and consumers to each other, was awarded second place and $25,000; Project Scavenger, an app to enable individuals to responsibly dispose of their devices, was awarded third place and $25,000; Honestly, an online browser extension aimed at passing supply chain transparency to consumers, was awarded fourth place and $10,000; and Plenti, a mobile application designed to make inventory tracking and waste measurement processes user-friendly and easy to do at home, was awarded fifth place and $10,000.

In total, 42 regional finalists and the local winners among them from Asia Pacific; Europe; Greater China; India; Latin America; the Middle East and Africa; and North America were celebrated at the event.