Alibaba Cloud has kicked off a new initiative to leverage technology for social good.
The initiative, dubbed “Tech for Change,” calls on potential partners to work together in areas such as education, economic development and the environment to improve the lives of those in need by using cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other advances in tech.
As a part of the announcement, which came during the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Alibaba Cloud said it would partner with African nonprofit iamtheCODE to teach 1 million women and girls across the globe computer programming by 2030. Alibaba Cloud will offer free online training and free access to cloud-computing resources to female programmers in marginalized communities to aid iamtheCODE in its mission, the company said.
WATCH: iamtheCODE Training New Generation of Female Programmers
“As an advocate for applying technologies for the social good, we believe that affordable cloud infrastructure and accessible data technologies have the potential to enable smaller organizations to make huge differences in creating a better world for all humankind,” said Dr. Wanli Min, chief machine intelligence scientist at Alibaba Cloud.
“We are calling for everyone to join forces and be part of the Tech for Change global community,” Min said.
Mari√©me Jamme, founder of iamtheCODE (pictured above), said the tie-up with Alibaba Cloud would allow the organization to reach more disadvantaged women, making its curriculum “even more accessible.” Participants will also receive certificate to indicate they’ve passed exams after completing courses ranging from cloud computing and data analysis to machine learning and security.
“We are truly honored and excited for the girls, as they will have access to the new technological advancements of Alibaba Cloud. Working with Alibaba Cloud will make a great difference in the lives of millions of young women globally,” she said.
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Similar to its support for iamtheCODE, Alibaba Cloud will make available to future Tech for Change partners its technology expertise, global computing resources and talent-development programs, including Alibaba Cloud Academy and its artificial-intelligence competition platform, Tianchi, the company said.
The program is a continuation of Alibaba Cloud’s efforts to support small and medium-sized enterprises with their social-responsibility projects. The company has offered its cloud and AI technologies to U.S.-based Roybi, whose robots are used in early-childhood education, and China’s Curefun, which makes virtual patients to train doctors and nurses in rural areas of the country.
WATCH: Curefun App Brings Medical Training to Rural China
In 2017, Alibaba Cloud built a philanthropy platform, “Green Code,” to connect professional IT volunteers with nonprofit organizations in China. More than 3,000 engineers last year registered to help charity programs at 168 organizations.
