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.
Started as a 'sibling quarantine project' by Suraya Shivji (22 years old) and high school senior Jameel Shivji (18 years old), the app, called HAGS, 'Have a Great Summer', lets students get yearbook signatures from their friends and classmates via Snapchat. Creators Suraya and Jameel Shivji didn't want high schoolers to miss out on the tradition due to the current crisis.
Read MoreBarcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu opened on Monday 22 June for a performance by UceLi Quartet, its first concert since mid-March, with the 2,292-seat capacity filled with handsome fauna, which the theater will donate to health care professionals working at the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona.
Read MoreMatthew Burrows' idea, now called The Artist Support Pledge, was simple: artists post work on Instagram for no more than £200 and when they reach £1,000 of sales they have to buy another artist’s work. After three months a sort of global microeconomy based on generosity was born, estimated by one consultant, says Burrows, to have generated around £48m in sales.
Read MoreGlobal artists and partners have been working on The Plated Project to create limited edition art plates. Each art plate captures a moment from the life during COVID. For each plate sold, 100% of the proceeds go to Goonj and sponsor a ration and meal kit consisting of essentials like dal, rice, atta.
Read MoreThe first offerings, TIME for Health, includes a new digital content destination on Time.com and a virtual wellness series, TIME for Health Talks, starting in the coming weeks. TIME for Kids, an in-classroom subscription product launched in the last 25 years, will remain free until the end of July and will extend its publishing scheduling beyond the usual school year due to the current crisis.
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 MoreFor men who sport facial hair and long flowing beards, this everyday non-medical mask provides complete face and beard cover during COVID.
Read MoreThe machine called the Dropbox, sterilizes books with UV light, thought to be able to kill viruses contained in the droplets in the air. Shaped like a filing cabinet, the Dropbox consists of six drawers, each fitting 14 books. The books are warmed for 24 hours at 40 degrees Celsius and exposed to UV rays for 10 minutes. The books are arranged so that each receives an equal amount of radiation.
Read MoreBeginning in June, Sean Porter will host 'Daddy’s Dogs Drive-In Concert Series' at his flagship hot-dog stand in Nashville’s the Nations neighborhood. Different artists will perform on an outdoor stage built over a shipping container in Daddy’s Dogs’ parking lot, with up to 40 cars parked around it, tuning in to the music via an FM signal on car stereos.
Read MoreIn the video, Kira Hilla wears a three-metre tutu to represent Holland’s current social distancing rule, and twirls around half-deserted spaces. She dances through the streets of Amsterdam with colleague Dutch Ballet dancer Manu Kumar and ends up on a socially-distanced stage at the ballet’s home theatre. The project was made in partnership with jeans brand G-Raw to imagine the 'new normal'.
Read MoreAustralians who wish to share their experiences, stories, or images from COVID are invited to join the Museum’s Facebook group 'Bridging the Distance — Sharing our COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences'. They can take part in a national conversation around this crisis, then the Museum will hold the content shared on this platform as a record and look to develop an exhibition based on the stories.
Read MoreLuckie, whose clientele includes Bridge Senior Living, started airing the 60-minute "Radio Recliner" show last month, starting with quarantined retirees in middle Tennessee. It has since taken off, as much the production side as among listeners, with seniors in assisted-living facilities in Georgia, Alabama and others jumping at the chance to be a DJ after being isolated because of social distancing rules.
Read MoreThe exhibition on Vincent Van Gogh was supposed to be a walk-in exhibition, but will be hosted as a temporary drive-in experience for visitors to respect COVID regulations; with the original walk-in exhibit postponed until July. In the five-story Toronto Star building in Younge Street, visitors will be able to drive into the warehouse, switch off their engines and get swept up in the Dutch painter's masterpieces.
Read MoreAnythink Libraries in Adams County started to phone its 65-and-over citizens (about 8,000 people) to update them on library services and see how they were getting along. Other Colorado libraries also imagined 'park and pickup' services to avoid contamination or 'Quarantine Quiz Show' for friendly online competition, and added a program to help address mental health during the pandemic called Headspace.
Read MoreDrive-in gigs and paid virtual tours could change the party scene forever for innovative artists: event organisers see things getting better only by mid-2021 but even then new protocols would mean higher social distancing, small scale shows and lesser audiences.
Read MoreHorizon FCB Dubai created the campaign ‘Waste Can Mask Our Future’, launched remotely from the team’s homes in lockdowns across the Middle East and beyond. The idea is to make people aware of the impact disposable masks are having on our environment, while staying safe and getting the best possible protection thanks to reusable and washable masks.
Read MoreDuring quarantine, Lithuanians had their spirits lifted by the beautiful rendition of the patriotic song Lietuva Brangi ('Dear Lithuania') by 67 professional voices, members of multiple choirs from Vilnius University and the well-known singer Vaidas Baumila, who once sang for the country at Eurovision, all recorded remotely. It also featured social leaders repeating the message 'stay home, be happy' in sign language.
Read MoreThe performance rights organisation SOCAN has created a new program, called Encore!, to help deliver royalties to artists performing online during COVID. The program is retroactive from March 15 of this year until March 7, 2021. Each online concert on Facebook or Instagram is eligible for a total payment of CAD $150 (USD $109), with the royalties split amongst all the rights holders of the music performed.
Read MoreMartin Binder and Claudio Rimmele came up with the Rimbin concept, a space that provides children with individual platforms, allowing them to see, communicate and play games with each other safely. Parents, meanwhile, are able to keep an eye out from a distance.The platforms, inspired by giant water lilies, are modular, meaning that the layout can be configured depending on expected traffic.
Read MoreŠkoda has released a set of three new stop-frame adverts entirely shot from home using toy cars, made by agency Optimist and produced by Halal. Keen to show how 'creativity beats crisis', this campaign showcases a typical car ad made distinctive using miniatures of Škoda SUVs cars.
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