Essay Sample on Providing Solutions in Emergencies: Innovation Management During Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted most companies as well as research institutes across the globe. However, these same institutions are working tirelessly to develop strategies that can stop the disease and mitigate its effects. These efforts are a clear demonstration of how crises can be used to stimulate innovation. The pandemic is giving insight into how innovation and technology are better preparing the world in the handling of public health emergencies and in containing the spread of the disease. Although the pandemic is unprecedented, the responses are being borrowed from the lessons learned from other disease outbreaks over the past several years. This notwithstanding, the pandemic has thrown the world is into an unprecedented health crisis, and every aspect of the regular routine has been disrupted (Gates, 2020). The reality brought about by the disease is also reshaping all aspects of the world's social and economic systems. There is great fear and shock at the health risks that are posed by the virus, as well as the subsequent loss of lives. The social and economic requirements of flattening the curve have also exerted immense pressure on different governments around the world. To enhance a collective ability to shield humankind and economies from the disease and its effects, rapid and potentially disruptive innovative efforts have been witnessed in recent months. Both private and public R&D laboratories are speedily obtaining promising results in innovative medical treatment mitigations as well as in vaccine development efforts. Innovations in digital technology are being incorporated into updated maps that can show the spread of the infections, a key element of the strategies developed to contain the virus. High-tech companies, as well as public companies, are increasingly transforming their productions to be in line with the high demand for complex medical components and devices (Ramella, 2017). Crowdsourced solutions and the development of 3D printing are being used in the manufacture of innovative and missing components for medical and personal protective equipment. Public research companies are working on new algorithms for analyzing data, another important tool in the fight (Wang et al., 2020). They are also engaging in the manufacture of chemicals and electronics. Therefore, R&D and innovations are quickly responding to the pandemic. In this light, this paper seeks to discuss how high-tech companies and public research institutes are providing innovative products and services in the fight against the pandemic. The new organizational procedures, manufacturing techniques, and collaborations between the public and private sectors will also be explored.

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R&D Blueprint and COVID-19

After the declaration of the outbreak as a public health concern, an emergency meeting was convened by World Health Organization (WHO) to assess the current level of knowledge on the virus and the status of research on the same (Jee, 2020). The meeting established new means of working together in accelerating and funding priority research to respond to the pandemic as well as prepare for the future. In its response to the pandemic, the WHO also activated the R&D Blueprint to hasten the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics for the novel coronavirus (Martinez-Romero et al., 2019). The blueprint is aimed at improving coordination between scientific researchers and global health professionals. This move will help quicken the research and development process. It is also targeted at developing new norms and standards to learn from and improve on the global response.

From the meeting, two main goals were agreed upon (WHO, 2020). First, it was agreed to accelerate innovative research that would aid in the containment of the spread of the virus and facilitate care for the affected. Secondly, the organization would support research priorities that contribute to global research platforms (Bedford et al., 2020). Based on the response to other recent outbreaks such as Ebola, the R&D blueprint has been able to coordinate and accelerate the response to Covid-19.

Innovative Products and Services in Mitigating the Crisis

The dramatic spread of Covid-19 has affected every aspect of human lives. It has disrupted lives, communities, and businesses worldwide. Industries, both manufacturing, and service have been significantly affected, and the mode of work by employees has been disrupted (Slater, 2020). However, such companies have put great efforts into the collective fight against the pandemic. Most of these companies are working in two ways in the damage control of the pandemic (Court & Clift, 2020). First, they are fighting the pandemic by providing resources that can help in the development of a vaccine, enhance access of information by the public on ways to prevent the spread of the disease, and by giving resources donations to hospitals (Yamey et al., 2020). Secondly, they are providing a cushion for the economy. The cushions are meant to ensure that, when the pandemic ends and restrictions such as social distancing and cancellation of gatherings are lifted, people and companies can revert to normal life, and the economy bounces back (Figari & Fiorio, 2020).

Worldwide organizations and companies, as well as public research institutions, are collaborating in developing innovative measures aimed at reducing the impact of COVID-19 public health. The measures are as well aimed at limiting disruptions on the world economies and supply chains. In response to the pandemic, several public and private entities have come up with mission-oriented grand challenges whose goal is to find treatments and to create a vaccine for prevention (Cheema-Fox et al., 2020). Different ways in which high-tech companies and public research companies are globally fighting the pandemic are discussed below.

Drones

Drones are the new technology being used to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. They are being deployed to disinfect streets, perform street patrols, and deliver medicine and medical equipment in quarantined areas. Some state agencies and manufacturers have modified drone software to enforce restrictive measures and boost disease detection. The same technology is used when compelling cases about the risk of pervasive surveillance and overstretched law enforcement. As the situation is getting worse, drone software is being rewritten to obtain a multitude of functions (Chamola et al., 2020). The drones are now replacing helicopter patrols and being used for enforcement purposes.

The use of drones and other surveillance technologies during this pandemic can facilitate the enforcement of containment and social distancing measures. There is a decrease in the number of face-to-face contacts while still freeing up crucial human resources and minimizing their exposure risk to the virus. In addition to the ability of drones to perform technical tasks efficiently, they have a higher capacity to minimize direct human exposure to the virus. They involve fewer people in several operations. This factor presents a higher advantage when controlling infections with the need to keep some health workers out of hot zones (Skorup & Haaland, 2020). The drones make it possible for health workers to identify new potential cases without coming to close contact. People in quarantined areas have access to supplies provided by drones hence limiting unnecessary human contact.

E-commerce and Food Delivery Services

The e-commerce platforms are among the newest and most exciting innovations to emerge in the past few years (Zeng et al., 2020). They also include the still-new delivery services. From these platforms, one can access almost anything and get the products delivered directly to their doorstep. In most of the delivery systems, one does not even come into contact with the delivery person. Rather, they just deliver the product to one's doorstep or front desk. By eliminating the physical interaction between the business and customers, such moves have helped reduce the spread of the virus.

In normal times, these services seemed a little more than mere convenience. However, the pandemic has proved how vital and, at times, lifesaving the services can be, especially at a time when minimal human contact is of utmost necessity (Hobbs, 2020). Resultantly, the consumption of these services has dramatically increased during the Covid-19 crisis. The services have become a lifesaver to many, especially the elderly and people with compromised immune systems, who have been shown to be more vulnerable to the disease (Samodio, 2020). The ecommerce and food delivery services have provided the ability to access the much-needed products delivered directly to their conveniences without having to interact with other people physically. In turn, these measures have helped in the maintenance of social distance and have ultimately minimized the spread of the virus (Courtemanche et al., 2020).

Google DeepMind Contribution to AlphaFold

Google has been working with the United States government to develop a website specifically dedicated to education and resources on Covid-19 nationally (AlQuraishi, 2019). Information and news concerning the pandemic are continually broadcast on google products such as Maps, Google Search Engines, and YouTube. The move has had a farfetched impact on assessing information by millions of viewers (Kricka et al., 2020). Google has also adopted various measures to eradicate misinformation from its sources. This goal has been achieved through the development of strict policies for advertisement, the sharing of videos, as well as other forms of media. Google, being the leading work from home (WFH) services provider, is giving out an offer on Google Meet's premium features for free until the 1st of July (Harari, 2020). It has also created multiple resources for distance learners and those who are new to the WFH platforms.

Google's contribution to the advancement of health research and science is also notable. It has contributed DeepMind to the latest version of the AlphaFold system. The AlphaFold is part of DeepMind's AI solution (Powles & Hodson, 2017). The AlphaFold is being released to help structure predictions of proteins related to the Corona Virus. Google is hoping to contribute to the understanding of how the virus functions, which will, in turn, help the scientific community in the efforts to create a vaccine or a cure. The Alphabet's health technology solutions company is developing a body-word temperature patch that communicates with a phone app to detect a fever. The tool will help in detecting and getting an early diagnostic of the flu or Covid-19, an essential element of the containment measures developed by different governments around the world (Wee et al., 2020).

Telehealth Technologies

The Covid-19 crisis has brought about outstanding challenges in the delivery of healthcare equipment. Most countries are forced to shut down some non-essential services to its citizens. In extreme cases, restrictions have been imposed to ensure that people stay at home to minimize the spread of the virus. Ultimately, such measures are meant to flatten the curve and reduce the pressure on healthcare systems. As more focus is placed on COVID-19, the attention given to other diseases has dropped, a factor that poses a huge health risk (Gomolin et al., 2020). The number of people visiting hospitals has also declined, and hence there is a need to develop solutions to address these challenges.