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.
Microsoft's new global skills initiative aims at bringing more digital skills to 25 million people worldwide by the end of the year. Microsoft plans to combine existing and new resources from its LinkedIn and GitHub units (learning content, certifications, job-seeking tools), as well as from inside the rest of the company, and make them available for free or cheaply to those who are interested in upskilling or retraining for new careers.
Read MoreIsrael Smith, a sixth grader at Brookhaven Innovation Academy Charter School in Norcross, Georgia, built the game to combat COVID and the stress kids might experience from all bad news and the fact that schools were closed and they had to socially distance from family and friends. Smith redesigned the old-school cellphone game Space Impact, making it possible to shoot at cartoonish viruses moving across the screen.
Read MoreThe 174 graduates and their guests rode the ski lifts to the top of the resort, where they walked up to receive their diplomas and take pictures. After grabbing their diplomas and getting their pics, the graduates and their guests then rode the chairlift back down the mountain.
Read MoreThe American University in the Emirates (AUE) at the Dubai Academic City will be using the drive-in cinema concept to welcome all the students at the campus car-park and organise pre-assigned slots, two metres from each other’s car. Students will be able to access an FM radio channel to follow the ceremony, and, once a graduate’s name is called out, a drone will carry the certificate and delivery it to the student’s car.
Read MoreThe Kids Education Engagement Program (KEEP) in Liberia with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) has launched an easy-to-read book to teach children about the novel COVID pandemic. The book called 'An Activity Book for Early Learners' will be distributed free of charge to about 3,000 children and their parents
Read MoreHuawei ICT Academy Kenya, in collaboration with its partners has launched Learn ON, transitioning from face-to-face learning to online learning. As part of the Learn ON the program, a webinar brought together UNESCO experts, university professors, and experts from Huawei’s ICT academies to discuss global best practices for mitigating the impact of COVID on education.
Read MoreLondon Business School’s Real Innovation Awards is seeking to celebrate exciting business innovations forged during COVID in their ‘Innovation in Adversity Award’. Businesses can enter their application until May 29th.
Read MoreWorried about how her 11-year-old son Harry would be able to keep to social distancing once he was back in the classroom, she designed a low-cost desk divider with a Perspex window which still allows the child to see out into the classroom while being protected.
Read MoreWhite Sepal helps traditional learning institutes adopt technology services to keep going after lockdowns with the latest classroom technology and seamless fee payment, in addition to conducting live classes. It also offers special services like Tutoreal, an analytics-driven assessment platform.
Read MoreThe exhibition, called ‘BEDSIT’, will showcase pieces made at home during the lockdown period by students who have applied to study, or are currently studying, at the Canterbury School of Visual Arts (CSVA), and aims at showing the current mood, focusing on the themes of ‘isolation’, ‘working from home’ and ‘lockdown’.
Read MoreRichard Wiseman designed ‘Can You Save the World?’, an online game that helps children understand the importance of social distancing in times of COVID. It also aims to show awareness about how positive social behavior taught in online games can impact people’s actions in real life.
Read MoreWith COVID, schedules and travels have been cancelled, making the opportunity to connect virtually essential for teens in high school who want to play college sports. Sports Thread helps connect these student athletes with potential colleges and funding programs.
Read MoreATP players can choose from a variety of 4,000 courses across business, technology, data science, personal development, and mental well-being, learning new skills that will serve them throughout their playing and non-playing careers, delivered by the world’s top university educators such as Imperial College London or the University of Pennsylvania.
Read MoreAt Winston Knoll Collegiate, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program’s (DHH) students struggle to adapt to the new learning methods. The teachers decided to launch a project of creating an ASL (American Sign Language) music video, combining lyric interpretation with performance and expression.
Read MoreRead Along uses Google's speech recognition technology thats helps kids to develop literacy skills, and was first launched in India. After receiving encouraging feedback from parents, Google decided to share the app with more young learners around the globe.
Read MoreThis company facilitated online training sessions for the employees of duty free stores across key airports in Russia. The tuition was delivered by representatives of alcohol beverage companies including Abrau-Durso Russian Wine House, Rémy Cointreau, Whyte & Mackay and Baron Philippe de Rothschild.
Read MoreThis school asks children to wear big, colorful, DIY hats to help enforce social distancing. These hats are made of easy-to-find craft materials like construction paper and foam and decorated with colorful paint, feathers, stickers, and even balloons.
Read MoreThe study app enables teachers to support live sessions, share assignments and test students in schools and colleges. Currently, the online classes are structured as such that students can see the teacher but the teacher cannot see the students.
Read MoreThe AIU is training parents with two pilot sessions focused on Google Classroom. These virtual workshops, conducted through Zoom, became popular due to school districts request for help.
Read MoreThe free public health app Triumf Health (Open) has been made available to all children aged 7-14 in Estonia and the UK, irrespective of their health condition, to offer immediate psychological support and deliver validated information on the virus in a gamified way.
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