October 20, 2014 : Effort Enlists Appirio's Topcoder Crowdsourcing Community to Conceptualize and Develop Applications to Help Fund Research, Create Broader Cancer Awareness, and Save Lives
SAN FRANCISCO – October 20, 2014 – Appirio, a global cloud consultancy, today announced an initiative to donate the power of its Topcoder community to help the American Cancer Society (ACS) design and develop a mobile application built on Swift, Apple's new programming language. The ACS Challenge Series, sponsored by Appirio, will enlist its Topcoder community of more than 700,000 data scientists, designers, and developers to present their ideas and concepts for creating an application that will help ACS accomplish its goals in the fight against cancer. The best submissions will be selected to move on to the final stage of development.
"The American Cancer Society relies on communities of ordinary people to participate in programs and activities that help create extraordinary breakthroughs to save more lives from cancer," said Jay Ferro, chief information officer, American Cancer Society. "The access Appirio gives us to tap into a citizen-based professional crowd of the world's top technical talent to create innovative solutions that will help us in our education and awareness efforts is truly an extraordinary event in our fight against this horrible disease."
The American Cancer Society Challenge Series is supported through Appirio's Silver Lining program. The Silver Lining program was created to mobilize employees in making a measurable impact on the communities in which they work and live. Inspired in part by community benefit programs created by partners like Salesforce and Google, Appirio launched Silver Lining in 2010, harnessing the passion of Appirio employees who have made giving back part of their personal and professional lives.
"The mission of the Silver Lining program is to use the company's time, talents and technology for social good," said Chris Barbin, CEO, Appirio. "The American Cancer Society Challenge Series takes advantage of one of the most strategic assets for creating the most compelling application designs in the world ? Appirio's Topcoder crowdsourcing community. We're honored to sponsor this initiative and can't wait to see the solutions that are created to help ACS better engage, enrich and educate the communities they serve to save lives and create a world that one day may be cancer free."
To learn more about the American Cancer Society challenge and participate visit, swift.topcoder.com.
About Appirio
Appirio is a global cloud consultancy that helps customers achieve results in weeks, not years by harnessing the power of the world's top talent. Appirio's 700,000 member Topcoder community and crowdsourcing platform, combined with the company's business and technical expertise, have helped 800+ enterprises confidently use technology to increase innovation and transform business. Founded in 2006, Appirio is a trusted partner to companies such as Apria, Coca-Cola, eBay, Facebook, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, NetApp, The Four Seasons and Virgin America.