Covid-19

25 scientists tackling other global challenges

Young Scientists do their thing. The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted science’s vital role in society. Science will provide us with an “exit strategy” from the pandemic when a vaccine is finally developed but until then, scientists are helping to understand the origins of the virus, how it spreads, what treatment(s) are most effective and indeed if a cure is possible. Scientists have maximum visibility right now as different groups of people turn to them looking for answers. Covid-19 aside, science proposes solutions to the myriad of other global challenges facing society, from climate change to cybersecurity, poverty to pandemics, and food technologies to fracking. That’s part of the reason why the World Economic Forum created the Young Scientists Community in 2008, to engage leaders with science and the role it plays in society. Science is no longer a specialist concern. It is the driving force behind the highest-level decisions on global governance and policy-making, while also informing the individual choices people make about how they want to live and what changes they want to make. Image: Pew Research Center Today we announce our Class of 2020 Young Scientists, representing 25 exceptional researchers at the forefront of scientific discovery from 14 countries across the world. From chemical oceanography to child psychology and artificial intelligence, these brilliant young academics are joining a community whose aims are to: Communicate cutting-edge research and position science discourse within the context of scientific evidence. Develop leadership skills and a fuller understanding of global, regional and industry agendas. Build a diverse global community of next-generation scientific leaders, committed to engaging in collaborations related to collectively identified issues. What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak? By joining Forum events, engaging in personal and professional learning modules and sharing experiences with each other, we’re looking […]

Soul Machines and Florence to assist tobacco users quit during Covid-19

Soul Machines has joined the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Access Initiative (AI) for Quitting Tobacco to help share WHO’s life-saving information during the Covid-19 pandemic, combat misinformation, reduce the risk of Covid-19 and help over one billion tobacco users quit. Florence, the WHO’s first digital health worker, was created using Soul Machines technology and WHO technical guidance, with support from Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Florence will help provide clarity and expel damaging myths around Covid-19 and will specifically address smoking and its consequences – heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and respiratory diseases – all of which are comorbidities with Covid-19. With Florence, smokers can engage with a digital health worker to develop a quit plan and rely on a trusted source anytime and anyplace, to help them feel confident to reach their quit goals. Initially available in English, Florence will, over time, be available in all six official UN languages. Smokers are more exposed to the Covid-19 virus and are at greater risk of having severe disease complications. Although around 60% of the 1.3 billion tobacco users globally want to quit, only 30% of them have access to tools that can help them quit. As a digital health worker for WHO, Florence will help give the increasing numbers of people globally who have a desire to quit smoking during the Covid-19 pandemic a new, safe, easily accessible and engaging channel. Florence can scale seamlessly and to talk to many individual people around the world and is available 24/7 with no wait times, as a simple video stream from the cloud to any device. This frees up critical people resources and provides a user-friendly solution to an overwhelming demand for clear, concise information that can be relied on. Florence will always be available when needed and ready to engage to […]

Autonomous Mobile Disinfectant Robot

Autonomous mobile robot company SESTO Robotics has launched a dual-function Autonomous Mobile Disinfectant Robot. Addressing the urgent need for tiptop hygiene standards and minimum environment infection risk during Covid-19, the robot can efficiently and effectively disinfect facilities 24-hour, round-the-clock, with its dual functionality, eliminating 99.99% of bacteria, germs and viruses. SESTO HealthGUARD is designed to self-navigate and manoeuvre around tight places, avoiding obstacles and people, making it suitable for many indoor facilities. The robots are versatile and safe, and automate labour-intensive and repetitive tasks in healthcare and manufacturing facilities. There are no “off-days” or “after hours” for viruses. And the self-navigating, fully-autonomous robot is ready for round-the-clock thorough facility disinfection. Powered by SESTO’s proprietary user interface, operators can easily set up cleaning missions, schedules and deployment on a tablet or laptop. This means operators can conveniently change and update the robots’ cleaning routine as necessary. The robot provides an industry-leading utilisation rate of up to six hours on a single charge, auto-returns to its charging station when required and battery hotswap in less than five minutes. Responding to the growing concerns around environmental infection and community spread with the outbreak of Covid-19, the team at SESTO Robotics conceptualised the product in less than four weeks, integrating the disinfectant unit on its industry-adopted mobile robot platform. The proof-of-concept was rolled out in mid-April to much interest across industries ranging from retail malls, bus operators, hotels and healthcare facilities. Manual cleaning and disinfection may be inadequate and subject to human error, especially in large spaces. During operational hours with human traffic, SESTO HealthGUARD can disinfect the environment with hospital-grade disinfectant from its multi-nozzle sprayer, eliminating 99.99% of bacteria, germs and viruses. The multi-nozzle sprayer targets high-touch surface areas and enables facilities owners and operators to disinfect large surfaces more efficiently and thoroughly. […]

Covid-19: How past crises are helping the world’s cities to respond and rebuild

The lockdowns have lead us to adapt to some rather unimaginable scenes in some of the world’s major cities. Officials are harnessing networks and tools devised for responding to better-known risks like climate change to tackle the Covid-19 crisis. The crisis is paving the way for more futuristic cities, resilient to future pandemics. Green travel solutions have also been at the heart of many cities’ plans to rebuild. In early 2018, parched by a severe drought, Cape Town rallied its residents and businesses to slash water use and stop its taps running dry. Now, lessons from the water crisis are helping the South African city respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Megaphones are being used in communities with limited online access to make residents aware of the need for social distancing and good hygiene, just as they were deployed during the drought to encourage people to conserve water. Videos on the city’s social media channels honour frontline workers in the COVID-19 crisis and urge efforts to deal with it together – messages similar to those applauding water-saving efforts two to three years ago. And networks set up to engage businesses in a joint push to use water efficiently have been resuscitated to help them safely continue operations while containing Covid-19. Gareth Morgan, Cape Town’s director of resilience, said the city of about 4.6 million people was benefiting from what he called “crisis muscle memory”. Many of the same planners who worked on the drought response are now dealing with COVID-19 and using similar tools, such as building an index to show who is most vulnerable and developing a dashboard of metrics to track the situation. “It is not uncommon for our city team members to regularly say in our planning meetings that we learned something during the drought and we should be cognisant […]

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