By Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Microsoft Federal
I’ve discussed the importance of interoperability at length because it’s essential to providing government with the choice it needs to build the best solutions, and interoperable software is especially necessary when serving first responders tasked with reacting to emergencies. To help support the dedicated personnel that keep us safe everyday, we’ve partnered with Google, Yahoo!, NASA and the World Bank to launch a global technology community focused on developing practical software solutions for disaster response and assessment.
The program began Friday with Random Hacks of Kindness, the first of a series of events that brings together disaster relief experts and software engineers to develop interoperable technology solutions that solve real world crises. To help create the best solutions, we are making Microsoft IP freely and publicly available to developers and competitors. Approximately 150 programmers from Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! will come together at the Hacker Dojo Community Center in San Francisco to work with international disaster risk management experts from NASA and the World Bank on the challenges that emergency response professionals face. The software created in the next few days will continue to be developed at future RHoK events, and openly shared with the international community.
Drawing from our expertise in emergency response and communication, we are proud to be part of this exciting innovation! For more information on the program, visit http://randomhacksofkindness.eventbrite.com/