Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and other tech companies have set up a hackathon to spur the development of new software for tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

The #BuildForCOVID19 hackathon, announced Tuesday, is being launched in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Twitter Inc., Slack Technologies Inc. and Pinterest Inc. are among the firms taking part. 

The contest organizers are calling on developers to submit new software solutions that can advance the global effort to curb the coronavirus. Participants are allowed to focus on “any areas” where they wish to contribute and may build their solutions using the technologies of their choice. The tech firms backing the hackathon will “provide guidance on what projects will be most valuable for engineers to take on,” Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post.

The landing page for the hackathon presents a long list of challenges that developers can tackle with their projects. Some of the potential use cases the organizers envision include assisting vulnerable populations, encouraging health precautions such as social distancing and easing online learning. 

Submissions are set to open on Thursday and developers will have until Monday to upload their projects. To be eligible for consideration, a submission must include not only the software itself but also a brief video explaining how the software works.

Hackathons and, more broadly, contests designed to encourage the development of new technologies have proven to be a fairly effective tool for fostering innovation. A number of Facebook features including the platform’s Crisis Response tab are the fruit of internal hackathons. Three-dimensional lidar sensors, the technology that underpins the modern autonomous vehicle ecosystem, emerged from a 2005 contest hosted by DARPA.

The #BuildForCOVID19 hackathon is the latest in a growing list of initiatives the tech industry is pursuing to support the fight against the coronavirus. Earlier this week, Facebook and Apple Inc. announced plans to donate millions of face masks to healthcare personnel. Facebook also launched an initiative to help health organizations use Messenger to disseminate information about COVID-19, while Microsoft Corp. is providing technology for a coronavirus screening chatbot being rolled out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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