Necessity makes inventive: that's how creative companies are in the pandemic

Saturday, February 06, 2021

Necessity is the mother of invention
That's how creative companies are in the pandemic

By Charlotte Raskopf

Breathing equipment instead of cars, disinfectants instead of beer, vaccination appointments instead of concert tickets: if there is a problem in the fight against the pandemic, numerous companies are ready to use their resources and offer creative solutions. Here are a few examples.

During the Corona crisis, masks, ventilators and much more were suddenly needed – things that were not produced in this mass before the pandemic. Creative solutions were needed. Various companies stepped in and switched their production facilities or used their existing infrastructure to help contain the pandemic.

Eventim arranges vaccination appointments

There is a problem with the allocation of vaccination appointments. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, the corresponding telephone number and website of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians were temporarily unavailable. Schleswig-Holstein is taking a different approach and has commissioned the ticket seller Eventim to assign vaccination appointments. Eventim normally sells event tickets and already has an infrastructure that is designed so that a large number of people want to book tickets at the same time – or vaccination appointments.

A spokesman for the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Health told the German Press Agency that more than 4,000 vaccination appointments had been reserved in shopping carts within a minute. According to Eventim, there were up to 5225 clicks per second on the corresponding homepage. According to the spokesman, this is comparable to the start of ticket sales for an international pop star's tour. It is therefore obvious to use software that is also used at other major events.

So far, Schleswig-Holstein is the only federal state that has transferred appointments to Eventim. Alexander Ruoff, Eventim's Chief Operating Officer, told the German Press Agency that the first orders from Austria and Brazil have already been received. But they are also in advanced talks with other federal states and European countries. How much Eventim earns with this service is unclear.

Amazon helps with pop-up clinic and cloud technology

Amazon supports the vaccination campaign in the USA. The Seattle-based tech company is working with a local hospital to provide thousands with the corona vaccine in a so-called pop-up clinic, a kind of vaccination center.

The company has also offered support to Joe Biden in his endeavor to vaccinate 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his tenure. They are ready to use the operational procedures, information technology, logistics and communication skills in such a way that they can help Biden in his endeavors.

According to its own information, Amazon Web Services (AWS) also supports the World Health Organization with cloud technologies and technical expertise. Among other things, they are helping to set up large data stores for epidemiological data.

Seat builds ventilators

Ventilators instead of cars – that was the motto from April 2020 in a Seat production facility in a plant in Martorell, Spain. The system was converted to supply the Spanish health system with urgently needed civil service equipment. One component of the devices: converted windscreen wiper motors.

"Retrofitting an assembly line that actually produces vehicle parts so that ventilation aids can be manufactured here was an extensive, difficult task in which many areas of the company were involved," says Sergio Arreciado from the process engineering department at Seat. "But we did it in record time."

Breweries provide alcohol for disinfectants

The breweries themselves suffered from the Corona crisis. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, beer sales fell to a historic low last year. The reason: There were no big celebrations and the catering trade was closed for months.

At the same time, the breweries and spirits manufacturers are helping out in the pandemic. Various companies were already making alcohol available for the production of disinfectants during the first wave – including Beck’s, Diebels, Weihenstephan and Jägermeister. The process of dealcoholization of the beers produces ethanol – a substance that is urgently needed for the production of disinfectants.

Companies get into mask production

At the beginning of the pandemic there was a major shortage of masks. Hardly anyone already had masks at home. Then numerous companies began to sew everyday masks, for example the textile company Trigema. The company was asked if it could help with mask production. In order to meet the high demand, sewing was carried out on Saturdays, according to the company.

The aeronautical and balloon technology company "Geo – die Luftwerker" became known, among other things, because it was involved in the implementation of projects by the wrapping artist Christo. Among other things, the company will also be involved in the last project by the artist who died last year – the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe. During the pandemic, Geo helped out in a completely different place and also got into the production of makeshift masks. Geo has a gift ready for those who buy the masks: a voucher for a 20 euro discount for a balloon ride.

This article first appeared on Capital.de.