IBM Free Online Game Chosen to Kick Off Earth Day Celebrations

Game Engages Teens to Save the Planet

(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, DC -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 04/17/08 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM ), a sponsor of Green Apple Festival and Earth Day Network's free festivals in parks across the country on April 20, 2008, has announced that PowerUp (http://www.powerupthegame.org ), created by IBM Research, is the official game of "America's largest Earth Day celebration."

To see the PowerUp video news release please visit:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=z19GxBLofLM

IBM will participate in the events hosted by Earth Day Network and the Green Apple Festival in Washington, D.C., New York, Miami, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles, to help promote a healthy and sustainable planet.

"The Green Apple Festival combines music with a message," says Peter Shapiro, Founder & Executive Producer of Green Apple Festival. "IBM's PowerUp stations at each event provide an interactive way that attendees can gain awareness and get inspired to find potential solutions and future leaders to address the issue of climate change."

The PowerUp game was recently introduced to challenge teenagers to help save a fictitious planet "Helios" from near ecological disaster.
In the virtual world, teens using avatars can compete alone or together in timed missions to rebuild solar panels, wind turbines and dams using basic engineering principals. As they ride over rugged mountains in buggies or search through junk yards to rebuild power sources, they make choices that will help them understand energy efficiency, climate change, and conservation.

"Climate change is a threat that must be addressed by every corporation and, in fact, every individual," said Nick Donofrio, Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology, IBM. "We are pleased that PowerUp is the official game and hope that it helps encourage future leaders to consider the impact of their energy choices. IBM will continue its leadership in environmental stewardship as we develop new technologies, processes and services that enable us, as well as our clients, to be more energy efficient."

IBM will have booths and computer stations set up at all locations and Nick Donofrio, Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology, IBM, will speak in Washington, D.C.

IBM recognizes that the time has come for an integrated, smart systems approach to solving energy and environmental issues. It has a longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship that goes back to
its first corporate environmental policy established in 1971. Some
of the company's other efforts include:

-- Great Rivers Partnership: a collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to bring IBM expertise and solutions to help manage the world's fresh water resources. The team will develop a comprehensive system that enables decision and policy makers to visualize land and water use trade-off scenarios before long-term decisions are made.

-- Energy Efficiency: energy conservation actions from 1990 through 2006 that conserved 4.5 billion kWhrs of electricity and avoided approximately 3 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. By pioneering employee telecommuting and work-at-home programs, the company has also conserved approximately 8 million gallons of fuel in the U.S. alone in 2006.

-- Project Big Green: a $1 billion investment to dramatically increase the efficiency of IBM products.

-- Intelligent Transportation Systems: including the real time monitoring and forecasting of congestion to reduce carbon emissions and improve transit user experience. A congestion pricing solution for Stockholm shows a 25% reduction in peak hour traffic congestion, and 15% reduced carbon emissions.

-- Big Green Innovations: applying the company's advanced expertise and technologies to emerging environmental opportunities, such as advanced water modeling, water filtration via nanotechnology and efficient solar power systems.

-- Product End-of-Life Management Program: that has resulted in less an 1 percent of product waste going to landfills by recycling, reselling or refurbishing equipment.

For more information please contact:

Clint Roswell
IBM
914-499-4045

IBM's Corporate Service Corps Heading to Six Emerging Countries to Spark Socio-Economic Growth While Developing Global Leaders

First 100 IBMers Selected for "Corporate Peace Corps"

(CSRwire) ARMONK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 03/26/08 -- One hundred IBM (NYSE: IBM) employees from thirty-three countries have been selected to participate in the company's new Corporate Service Corps program, part of the Global Citizen's Portfolio initiative announced by CEO Sam Palmisano, to develop leadership skills while addressing socio-economic challenges in emerging markets.

Twelve teams of employees will be sent to Romania, Turkey, Vietnam, the Philippines, Ghana, and Tanzania in 2008 to work on projects that intersect economic development and information technology. The assignments were selected to use the skills IBM employees possess.

More than 5,000 high-potential employees applied to the program and only 100 employees were selected, making this one of the most competitive employee programs ever created by the company. IBM will select another 100 before the end of year and has committed to enabling 600 of its emerging leaders to participate over the next three years.

"It's a corporate version of the Peace Corps," said Stanley S. Litow, vice-president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs, IBM. "What we as a company get is leaders with a broader range of skills that can function in a global context. What the individual participant gets is a unique set of leadership opportunities and development experiences. And what communities get are IBM's best problem solving skills. It's a triple benefit."

The program is part of IBM's Global Citizen's Portfolio announced last summer, a suite of investments and programs to help IBM employees enhance their skills and expertise in order to become global leaders, professionals and empowered citizens in the 21st century workforce. It includes matching accounts for lifelong learning and enhanced transition services to create second career opportunities.

After a competitive bid process involving 32 global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on volunteer placement of private sector professionals, IBM teamed with three: Citizens Development Corps based in Washington, D.C., Canada-based Digital Opportunity Trust, and Australian Business Volunteers. The NGO partners are a key part of the program's success, helping to identify the right projects and local organizations where IBM's emerging leaders, and the skills they currently possess, can have the most impact.

"The difference that I've seen with this corporate program is that it's more than sending a handful of employees every year to a country. It's making a real commitment to send hundreds of employees, year over year, to the same country. I think that you have an ability to make much more of an impact with such focus," said Michael Levett, president, Citizens Development Corps. "In addition, the IBM volunteers will learn an enormous amount about how business is done in these countries and the cultural aspects, they also will learn a lot about themselves and how to challenge themselves."

Following is a list of countries and highlights of each mission:

-- Timisoara and Sibiu, Romania: identify small and medium enterprises with high growth potential requiring business training to tap into regional and global trade networks.

-- Izmir, in the Aegean region of Western Turkey: help local chambers of commerce and city councils to promote economic, social and democratic development.

-- Kumasi, Ghana: improve business processes and provide training for a network of small and medium enterprises trying to scale up their business models.

-- Arusha, Tanzania: assist a global microfinance organization with market research and strategic plan development for expanding operations and services to entrepreneurs seeking microloans and business training services.

-- Cagayan de Oro and Davao City, Philippines: create management information systems to track progress of loan and grant beneficiaries from the Philippine Development Assistance Program.

-- Danang City, Vietnam: support the rapid development of small and medium enterprises with the Danang Chamber of Commerce through the creation of training programs in information technology management.

Prior to departure, the IBM teams will engage in three months of preparatory work to learn about local customs, culture, language, project goals and the socioeconomic and political realities of their destination countries. After their country service, employees will share their experience in their home communities and with the company.

IBM employees will be grouped in teams of eight representing different countries and business units. An important design point for the program is to provide high performance employees the chance to build networks with people they might never interact with. This will also enable employees to bring different perspectives and expertise to solving problems, as well as encourage interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds and traditions. In today's globally integrated economy the most successful leaders will be global citizens, able to understand and effectively collaborate with people from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives.

"I embrace challenges and want to learn new ideas, methods, and perspectives that I cannot imagine at the moment," said one of the program's participants, Roz Docktor, a Government Programs executive based in Washington, D.C., a former Peace Corps volunteer. "It is scratching the surface of some previous unknown and figuring out how to apply that knowledge back at IBM that will make me, this program and IBM successful. I plan not only to find ways to apply the things I learn to grow in my career, but also to find ways to share what I learn with my colleagues at IBM to help them grow, and hopefully, help us all serve our clients better."

Qing Xia Zhang, a client manager based in China, also is hopeful this project will not only broaden her business viewpoint, but also make a difference in the Philippines where she will be among eight IBMers addressing how rural small and medium businesses will tap into regional and global markets.

"Going out to the global community and volunteering to help others has been always deep in my heart," she said. "During 10 years of service at IBM, I gathered a lot of skills in sales, communication and leadership within the China market. Now, I would like to take on another challenge in helping different communities solve difficult business issues while also improving my skills as I begin to collaborate within a new culture."

For more information about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com

IBM has also hosted audio interviews with the three non-governmental organizations the company has teamed up with to identify the projects and areas of the world where IBM skills can best be applied. To learn more, listen to the interviews found on http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23743.wss with the following:

-- Deirdre White, VP and COO of Citizens Development Corps
-- Janet Longmore, President of Digital Opportunities Trust
-- Michael Lynch, CEO of Australian Business Volunteers

For more information please contact:

Sandra Dressel
IBM Corporate Communications
914-499-6609

IBM Launches PowerUp, a New Free 3D Multiplayer Virtual Science Game for the Classroom

Engineer's Week Features Virtual Gaming Technology Combined With Education

The IBM PowerUp game challenges teenagers to help save a planet from ecological disaster

(CSRwire) ARMONK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/15/08 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) is launching a free multiplayer online game, PowerUp (www.powerupthegame.org ), challenging teenagers to help save the planet "Helios" from ecological disaster. The game is part of IBM's TryScience initiative and will be launched at Engineer's Week 2008 opening on February 16 in Washington, D.C. The game, which can be played alone or together, features a planet in near ecological ruin where three exciting missions for solar, wind and water power must be solved before sandstorms, floods or SmogGobs thwart the rescue.

View video news release: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXhlVmbJYFc .

As co-chair of this year's Engineer's Week, an annual effort to promote engineering careers to students across the world, IBM devised the 3D virtual game to engage kids and educators in engineering, energy, and diversity awareness. Online video gaming is on the rise, with kids spending greater amounts of time online in fantasy play.
PowerUp aims to use kids' interest in fantasy virtual worlds to encourage them to learn about engineering principles by riding over rugged mountains in buggies to build solar towers or searching through grim junk yards to repair wind turbines. They will also learn about energy conservation by the choices they make in completing their missions. The game also features non-player characters that represent a diverse cross section of the population, to be role models to encourage every young person to consider a career in engineering and they act as guides for the game.

"Innovation is the key to competitiveness in today's globally integrated economy, but just when we need it to skyrocket, interest in math and science has been declining in the United States," said Stanley S. Litow, VP of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs and President of IBM International Foundation. "American competitiveness demands more interest in math and science by students. Virtual worlds and 3D are an unexplored resource in education. We asked our best researchers to incorporate the use of this technology into traditional educational curriculum."

U.S. jobs in science, technology, engineering and math are projected to grow 22 percent through 2014, faster than the average at 13 percent with computer specialist occupations growing 30 percent. But, U.S. grade school students continue to lag behind other developed countries in science and math.

Along with the game, there will be classroom lesson plans associated with the energy transformation topics and an interactive module where kids can learn about 3D technologies to build virtual worlds. To ensure a safe environment, "avatars" will use phrase-based chats to interact in missions.

"Learning through games and simulation is the way to engage tech-savy students today," said Michael Mino, Director, Center for 21st Century Skills @ EDUCATION CONNECTION. "If we have any hope of saving the 'real world from real problems,' we must embrace teaching students through computer games and virtual simulations."

IBM innovators applied their knowledge in 3D and virtual worlds to develop the game in about 16 months. Nearly 200 teens in the Connecticut Innovation Academy served as advisors to IBM researchers during the game development. The TryScience team from the New York Hall of Science worked with The Tech Museum in San Jose, California and the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the activities and game content.

Engineer's Week is a coalition of corporations, professional organizations, and government partners to help create interest in the engineering profession with students. IBM is co-sponsor of Engineer's Week running February 17-23, but events are held throughout the year.

IBM has been an active supporter of Engineer's Week since 1990, and last year about 5,000 IBM employees volunteered their time in classrooms to speak with students and provide hands-on science experiments.

For more information about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=691820

For more information please contact:

Sandra Dressel
IBM
914-499-6609

Doing Well by Doing Good: IBM Study Says Businesses Seeking Growth Through Social Responsibility

(CSRwire) ARMONK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/12/08 -- Companies believe that when they are more open with stakeholders and place social responsibility at the core of their business strategy they will be more competitive, attract and retain the best talent, and gain access to new business opportunities, says a global study released today by IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Many companies now see corporate social responsibility as a growth opportunity rather than just a regulatory compliance or philanthropic effort, with 68 percent of those surveyed focused on generating revenue through CSR activities. In addition, 54 percent believe CSR initiatives contribute to giving their corporations a competitive advantage.

Driving these beliefs is the rising influence of customers who, thanks to their ability to research and share information on the Internet, have become highly sensitized to a broad range of issues -- everything from concerns about climate change, to product safety issues, to labor practices, to corporate financial accountability, to questions about whether corporations are returning enough of their profits to the community.

While customers are becoming the chief driver of this increased focus on CSR, 76 percent of businesses surveyed admit they don't truly understand their customers' CSR concerns. In fact, even businesses that feel they are knowledgeable and prepared to deal with CSR issues may not be. Nearly two-thirds of companies surveyed believe they have sufficient information about the sources behind their products and services to satisfy customer concerns, but half of those admit they don't understand their customers CSR expectations well.

Fueling the customer focus on CSR, three-quarters of businesses report that the number of advocacy groups collecting and reporting information on them has increased in the last three years as has the amount of information businesses are providing about the sourcing, composition and impact of their products, services and operations.

"The more information these stakeholders get, the more they want to know. This increased visibility of corporate behavior is driving consumers' decisions on what to buy and who to buy from, who to work for, who to partner with, where to invest," said George Pohle, VP and Global Leader of IBM's Business Strategy Consulting Practice. "It's not only critical for businesses to keep up with the emerging demands of their stakeholders, but to build CSR into the core of their business strategy. That way CSR is not viewed as a discretionary cost but an investment that will bring financial returns. And since customers are changing buying behavior as a result of CSR, the financial impact can be dramatic."

The survey results are part of a new report released today by IBM Institute for Business Value, titled, "Attaining Sustainable Growth Through Corporate Social Responsibility." The full study, available at www.ibm.com/gbs/csrstudy , evaluates how well companies understand and manage CSR expectations, as well as outlines steps along the "value curve" that companies can follow to strategically align their CSR objectives to its core business strategy. According to the report, maximum benefit from the CSR opportunity takes place when all activities on the value curve -- legal and compliance, strategic philanthropy, values-based self-regulation, efficiency and growth -- become integrated into a cohesive strategy with leadership driven as much from employees, customers and business partners as from the CEO and senior executives.

IBM Survey Methodology

IBM surveyed senior executives and directors of strategy at 250 companies across the banking, chemicals and petroleum, consumer goods, electronics, energy and utilities, retail and automotive industries.

Of the participants, 30 percent are located in North America, 30 percent in Asia Pacific, 20 percent in Western Europe, seven percent in Eastern Europe, six percent in Latin America, and four percent in the Middle East and Africa.

About IBM

For more information about IBM, please visit: www.ibm.com

IBM VIRTUAL PRESS KIT:
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/23466.wss

Note to Editors: Broadcast-quality interview clips with IBM Business Strategy Consulting VP and Global Leader George Pohle is available for download by registered journalists at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ibm

Bloggers: Images and video are available for download by registered bloggers at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/videocafe

For more information please contact:

Michael Maloney , IBM Media Relations
IBM
917-472-3676

Corporations Go Public With Eco-Friendly Patents

IBM and World Business Council for Sustainable Development Team With Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony to Establish Eco-Patent Commons

(CSRwire) GENEVA and ARMONK, NY --(MARKET WIRE) -- 01/14/08 -- Leading members of the corporate community have come together in a first-of-its-kind effort to help the environment, unleashing dozens of innovative, environmentally responsible patents to the public domain.

Availability of these patents will encourage researchers, entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes in any industry to create, apply, and further develop their consumer or industrial products, processes, and services in a way that will help to protect and respect the environment.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and IBM (NYSE: IBM )-- named today by IFI Claims as the leading earner of United States patents for the 15th consecutive year -- are initiating this effort in partnership with Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony. The pledged portfolio, dubbed the "Eco-Patent Commons," is available on a dedicated, public Web site hosted by the WBCSD (http://www.wbcsd.org/web/epc ).

Patents pledged to the Eco-Patent Commons -- originally proposed at IBM's Global Innovation Outlook conference -- feature innovations focused on environmental matters and innovations in manufacturing or business processes where the solution provides an environmental benefit. For example, a company may pledge a patent for a manufacturing process that reduces hazardous waste generation, or energy or water consumption. A pledged patent covering a procurement or logistics solution may reduce fuel consumption.

Examples of the environmental benefits expected for pledged patents include: