Friday, 26 February 2021, 1:59 pm
As
the cliché goes, every crisis is an opportunity. The
pandemic seems no exception. To be clear though: at any
time, it is quite OK to make money from working in, with or
on behalf of the public health system. It is also OK to be
making money after you’ve successfully lobbied health
authorities to get saliva testing included in the arsenal of
the government’s responses to the pandemic. The grey area
begins if and when media campaigns that have righteously
invoked public health goals end up stampeding the Ministry
of Health into making decisions that (a) don’t involve the
Community Scoop » On The Rivals For The Covid Saliva Testing Dollar scoop.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scoop.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
. One Kiwi business used its expertise in tracking organisation memberships to develop a world-leading COVID forecasting model that saw them awarded a Microsoft AI for Good grant.
Since then, CloseAssociate’s algorithms, built using Microsoft artificial intelligence technology, have also helped the University of Illinois reintroduce students to campus more safely and predicted Victoria’s virus resurgence in mid-2020.
One of the most unsettling things about the COVID-19 pandemic has been the speed of change. Businesses considering online platforms or rolling out remote working in the next few years have been forced to adapt overnight. A single community case can lead to a nationwide lockdown within days.