# Crowdsourced PC Power 'World Community Grid' Uses Computer Downtime for Humanity By Katie Cordrey | Published 2009-10-27 | Social Good Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/world-community-grid References: [ibm](https://www.ibm.com/podcasts/howitworks/021307/index.shtml) & [secure.worldcommunitygrid.org](http://secure.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.jsp) World Community Grid, a [volunteer computing grid benefiting humanity](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/highperformance-supercomputer), allows people from around the world to donate their idle computer time. The non-profit provides software that allows a participant to [donate the power](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/cliquest) of a powered-up, idle computer to projects that benefit humanity. Because the participants volunteer the use of their computers, funds can be used for other purposes. The powerful grid of individual computers very literally depends upon a world community whose donated computer time helps researchers reduce the time to solve problems from years to months. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 4.3/10 - Popularity: 29% | Activity: 91% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 70% men, 30% women - Primary generations: Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America, Europe, Asia ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Social Good](https://www.trendhunter.com/socialgood) > [Activism](https://www.trendhunter.com/activism) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Volunteer Computing:** Opportunity for companies to leverage unused computing power of volunteers to reduce costs on complex computing operations and support research. - **Crowdsourcing:** New avenues for collaborative innovation where people work together towards a shared goal with access to collective intelligence and computing power. - **Humanitarian Computing:** A new era of computing solutions for humanity, where non-profit organizations can leverage unused computing capabilities towards finding solutions for various global challenges. ### Where This Applies - **Research and Scientific Communities:** Research and scientific communities can leverage low-cost and efficient computing power to solve complex problems in a shorter period of time. - **Non-profit Organizations:** Non-profit organizations can leverage these powerful crowd-sourcing tools to further their goals and support humanitarian efforts. - **Information Technology (IT):** IT companies can create new opportunities for using idle computing power while simultaneously contributing to humanitarian causes. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Community-Owned Solar Microgrids](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/communityowned-solar-microgrids.md) - [Social Good Computer Drives](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/technological-barriers.md) - [Social Isolation-Combating Platforms](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/healthfirst-foundation.md) - [Effective Productivity Strategies](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/64hacks.md) - [Digital Fundraising Competitions](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/the-community-cup.md) - [Cloud Gaming Platforms](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/luminglabs.md) - [AI Resource Hubs](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/grids.md) - [Shared Cooking Platforms](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/shared-cooking.md) - [Ultra-Efficient Keyboard PCs](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pentaform-abacus-pc.md)