Many people, companies, and organizations around the world are committed to containing COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the partners in the Software Campus program are also involved – in many different areas depending on the industry and their core competences.
Provision of information
Comprehensive information on the virus and how to deal with it is prepared by the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group‘s media, for example at ZEIT ONLINE (German texts): statistics on the number of infected people and hospital beds as well as visualisations on topics such as “How to Mundschutz” and “Have I been infected with the corona virus?”. Huawei Technologies Germany is closely connected with the parent company in China and shares knowledge and experience (German twitter account) from China in dealing with the virus.
Employees and employers can find information in the business context at DATEV: the continuously updated website (German text) compiles information on topics such as relief measures, short-time working compensation, subsidies, immediate aid, or dealing with liquidity shortages.
Data collection and evaluation
To make the amount of newly published studies more useful, the TECO research group at KIT has published discovid.ai, a searchable database. With CoVex, computer scientists at the TU Munich have developed an online data analysis platform for the identification of existing medication that is effective against COVID-19. Software AG has created a scalable platform (German text) solution based on Cumulocity IoT, which enables a real-time display of the current nationwide utilization of hospital bed capacities.
Medical field
Merck, which has already experienced several epidemics in its 350-year history, is one of the companies providing support at the medical level. With the production of disinfectants and vaccines, Merck made a contribution in the area of medical protection measures. Currently, Merck offers solutions for scientists to detect and characterize viruses and develop vaccines and therapies. The Carl Zeiss Foundation and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy are both contributing financially to the development of a vaccine (German text) by the Tübingen-based start-up Prime Vector.
Almost every company and research institution from the Software Campus consortium is helping its regional medical facilities by donating protective equipment and disinfectants. The Ditzingen-based company Trumpf has restructured its production facilities and is now converting laser diodes, which previously measured the amount of oxygen during the refuelling of airplanes, so that they can be used as oxygen sensors in respiratory equipment.
Digital tools for tracing infection chains
The research partners of the Software Campus are involved in the newly developed tracing app. The TU Munich, TU Dresden, TU Berlin and the Fraunhofer Institutes IIS, HHI and AISEC worked together with the German government on the app PEPP-PT. Prof. Thorsten Strufe from KIT and his team investigated the data protection compliance (German text) of the two approaches discussed. DFKI and TU Darmstadt are working on their own tracing apps (SIS System and TraceCORONA (German text)), and TU Munich published a possible encryption system of such an app.
Physical Distancing ≠ Social Distancing
The program partners are also concerned with the effects of the current situation on daily life and work. Rohde & Schwarz, for example, explains how to ensure secure working from home. Together with partners, DFKI launched the “School to go” platform (German text), which bundles learning opportunities. The Rowohlt publishing house of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group set up a free download of children’s books. MediaMarktSaturn distributed 450 pre-configured tablets (German text) so that residents of nursing homes, homes for the elderly and homes for the disabled can stay in touch with their families and friends despite the ban on visiting. Students from Paderborn developed various help platforms that can be used to support restaurants, clubs, shops and artists through vouchers and donations.
This is a small excerpt of all the activities of the stand at the beginning of May 2020. The Software Campus is proud to have such dedicated partners in its consortium.
Thank you.
