The Irish Cancer Society is among 11 organisations around the world to receive an IBM Centennial Grant to help the society develop a smart cloud-based system to support the expansion of its ‘Care to Drive’ programme.
The programme provides free patient transportation to and from cancer treatment appointments, including scheduling, route planning and mapping, volunteer reimbursement and data management.
The IBM Centennial Grants are both monetary and in-kind awards up to US$100,000 each and fund innovative projects in areas such as healthcare, energy and food safety.
Last month, volunteers from IBM got to work with the Irish Cancer Society to develop the technology solution to support the delivery of ‘Care to Drive’.
“The Irish Cancer Society cannot do the work it does without our committed volunteers. To have a skilled base of IBM volunteers working directly with the society to develop a technology solution that will help us reach significantly more patients in the long term is new for us and we are delighted with this innovative approach to cancer care,” John McCormack, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society had said.
Stanley S Litow, vice-president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs at IBM, added that non-profit and education organisations are the lifeblood of local communities, and IBM wants to help them by offering support to build a smarter planet.
“In conjunction with our employees making their skills available through massive volunteer efforts, IBM’s Centennial grants will help non-profits and educational organisations meet their key goals,” Litow said.
The IBM Centennial grant recipients include:
- ATN Telecentre Information and Business Association (Brazil)
- Drishtee Foundation (India)
- El Agora (Argentina)
- Foundation for the Training and Protection of Mentally Handicapped Children (Turkey)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Khraragpur (India)
- National Association of Community Health Centers (United States)
- Singapore Green Building Council (Singapore)
- United Way Ottawa – Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (Canada)
- The Vermont State College system (United States)
- Wiener Tafel (Austria)
IBM’s total worldwide giving programme in 2010 was $189.2m.
