In Sweden, compared to many other European countries, life is less restricted. For some the Swedish strategy is frowned upon for while others regard it as the right thing to do. The strategy under the guidance of the public health authority is said to be based on everyone's good judgment, instead of being compelling. We will see how this strategy succeeds in time.
Industrial Initiatives to fight Coronavirus
As everywhere else actions are being taken to alleviate the spread of Covid-19 and to slow down economic crisis. Recently, the Swedish tech community gathered their resources in a bid to assist the society by any means necessary. Among the most notable initiatives; Norrsken Foundation alongside Dagens Industri's “Action Against Corona" and IT&Telekomföretagen´s initiative #VITECHERUPP.”
One key element of the national initiative #VITECHERUPP is to highlight that the tech industry as a whole is here and primed to aid all sections of society; both public and private, to be able to continue with life in a manner that is as close to regular as possible. Keeping critical operations and structures in place for the duration of these testing times is of the utmost importance.
#VITECHERUPP – a strong Contribution to Society
In Sweden we have world-leading expertise in both AI and IT which could now contribute with solutions to some of the toughest challenges currently being discussed. The hope is that #VITECHERUPP will be a really positive and constructive movement, that it can exemplify how we as an industry are contributing to society on a variety of levels and hopefully we can showcase our intentions to serve the community through the difficult situation we all find ourselves in.
Cloudberry is part of #VITECHERUPP
Our team from Cloudberry Communications, Eurocom Worldwide's member agency in Sweden, has joined #VITECHERUPP as well since we have been supporting the tech industry for many years with innovative communications services and we would like to help battle this crisis like many others.
The data center player Equinix is donating its interconnection services – free of charge to qualifying organizations seeking to support the greater good through this pandemic. Swedish startup Digitaltolk has developed an app for hospitals where interpreters, doctors and the patient can communicate via video. Care Translate opens up its medical translation tool for free and Yesper that connects young people with families looking for babysitters or other household support offers its services to families that are working in the healthcare sector.
Learning from the Swedish Movement
There is thought that this movement can be seen as a contribution from the steady industry we have in Sweden to some of the sectors that are currently under extreme duress globally. We can encourage AI and IT companies to think carefully about what they can and should do in a time of societal crisis. To create less pressure within the ecosystem and give our authorities the best opportunities to make the right decisions, can only be seen as a proactive and positive action.
We are amidst a very unusual situation where the infrastructure of society is being severely tested. Some of the positive roles the industry can play may include new ways of tracking infection, protection of data, improvement of systems in healthcare, securing of web pages and comms channels so that they are accessible under severe pressure. Many companies have switched to working from home, leading to a large use of digital workspace solutions in order to work together and stay connected.
Accessibility, Security and Structure are the Imperatives
The guarantee of accessibility for as many companies and organizations as possible is absolutely critical. Accessibility, security and structure are the imperatives in the current climate, both for companies to be able to conduct their internal communications smoothly and also to be able to conduct their external operations without interruption.
If you are in the tech business and need PR and marketing communications support in Sweden please get in touch with Madelene Kornfehl from Cloudberry: madelene@cloudberry.se