Back in early 2020, TrendWatching launched ‘Covid Innovations’ to inspire entrepreneurs and marketers to serve their customers better in dire covid times.
With covid no longer deeply impacting daily life, we’re fully focused again on all innovations that make the world a little bit better - check out MakeShift, our free weekly publication to stay on top of the latest trends, insights and innovations.
This solution works on predictive analysis and uses layers of geospatial data to track, monitor, analyze and visually represent them into data stacks. These data stacks will help in route optimization in COVID positive zones that will help businesses in making statistically driven decisions.
Read MoreFacebook Shops aims at helping businesses to easily set up an online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram, for free. Businesses can choose the products they want to feature from their catalog and customize the look and feel of their shop with cover images or accent colors that showcase their brand.
Read MoreThis map is a directory of hundreds of innovations and solutions around the world that could support the response to COVID, helping people to adapt to life during the COVID pandemic and to connect innovators so they can collaborate on solutions.
Read MoreThe Chkin.Me app enables users to check-in to a venue by scanning a QR code with their phone's camera. Each club, charity or church will be issued with a unique QR code, and data will be encrypted and stored using Microsoft's Azure platform.
Read MoreDevourin 'Spark In-room' provides contactless experience for both in room services and dining at hotel restaurants. A single QR code on your phone opens the doors to a variety of services including digital menu, digital ordering, payment, real-time feedback or spa appointments, playing the role of a virtual concierge.
Read MoreUnilever Russia's carrers fair was designed in the format of an online game, where users could visit 8-bit versions of company office buildings, learn job details and communicate with virtual representatives. Graduates were able to look for internships and vacancies at Unilever, as well as virtually meeting Unilever employees.
Read MoreAccenture Interactive invites Danes to upload pictures of their hands, along with personal messages of hope. Each image adds a patch of digital "skin" to an A.I.-generated 3-D hand, serving marker of the nation's solidarity against COVID. For each hand, Danish retailer Coop will donate 5 kroner (around $1) to Danish Red Cross COVID-19 relief efforts.
Read MoreASOS uses AR technology to give customers a simulated view of models wearing items from the brand while protecting staffers in the process. The fashion retailer will digitally fit six different models with up to 500 products per week.
Read MorePeople who were tested positive for COVID antibodies will be able to get a TSA PreCheck™ style clearance. They will be directed to blood test collection centers in their areas, with results then reported straight to the app. The level of antibodies in a person's system will determine their "pre-clearance" status, with a COVID PreCheck QR code, which can then be shown to employers in order to help speed their return to work.
Read MoreWith summer coming up and plans underway to reopen beaches, local councils in Spain are thinking of ways to make beaches COVID safe: the idea would be to make beachgoers book their space in advance via a mobile phone app, allowing only a certain number of people to enter the beach per day.
Read MoreIn Mosul, finding essential medication can be an expensive struggle, especially during COVID. Hadeed has created a new app that directs patients and relatives to pharmacies that provide the medication they need, and indicates where products are cheapest.
Read MoreMaptician, a startup based in Georgia, launched Maptician Flex, a platform analyzing floor plans and seating charts for risks around employee desks and in conference rooms or walkways. It also suggests options for staggering employee schedules based on where each worker sits and capacity restrictions and has a contact tracing system to help identify workers who might be in danger if a colleague gets sick.
Read MoreParanoid Fan was an app helping US citizens going to an NFL game to know where to park or where to find concessions. Due to COVID, the company rebranded and is now called Nepjun, using the same mapping and delivery technology for a new platform that helps food banks and pantries digitise. People can find nearby food banks, place online orders, and select curbside pickup in a specific time slot or choose delivery.
Read MoreThe augmented reality, virtual closet enables Snapchat users to browse clothes from home via the application, and to make purchases without leaving Snapchat. With COVID, the inventory in Kohl's virtual closet pivoted to athleisure products for the many people working from home.
Read MoreThe fully interactive applications of the 'TouchSource Contactless Suite' allow visitors to see and scan information from digital displays to mobile phones without touching the screen, to deliver information keeping pace with rapid messaging changes in any location at a safe distance, and also let visitors scan that information to their personal mobile device.
Read MoreMatch Group, the brand’s parent company, announced this new feature coming up, one of the largest feature introductions for the brand. As abuse could be difficult to screen for on video, the team is said to be looking at building its own offensive image detection system.
Read MoreSurrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership, Surrey County Council and Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation team up to support the most vulnerable and sometimes socially isolated residents remain connected thanks to a platform where they can view, register and access online activities, like virtual coffee mornings, group chat sessions and tailored exercise classes.
Read MoreThis new tool will assist restaurants that are preparing to reopen dining rooms in the coming days and weeks, to help diners keep COVID-safe social distancing measures. The kit offers technologies to assist restaurants with contactless order and payment.
Read MoreWeChat Go is collaborating with 11 major U.S. museums and all-Mandarin arts and pop culture platform Move The Mind (MTM) to create separate WeChat Mini Programs which offer users a range of features such as guided audio tours and video materials, interactive games, and maps in US museums.
Read MoreRestaurants will face a new challenge now, having to manage the volume of reservations while adhering to strict social distancing measures. To facilitate the process, Open Table launched a new ‘Open Door’ pricing program for both new and existing restaurants. The program features no subscription fees through the end of the year.
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