A technological movement was born in Porto to fight Covid-19 and already gathers 2,500 people

When technology meets public health, a new world of possibilities opens up without having to leave home. The technological movement Tech4Covid19 was born by the hand of entrepreneurs and startups in Porto last Saturday and just six days later it already brings together 120 companies and more than 2,500 people, working on about 20 autonomous projects to fight the new coronavirus. They have already raised more than 100,000 euros for hospital supplies, provide delivery services to family and friends, provide online medical consultations and are working on an application that identifies the Covid-19 contagion networks, in cooperation with health authorities.

The Whatsapp conversation started last weekend between a small group of founders of startups in Porto, brought together the friend of his friend, co-workers, entrepreneurs from different areas of training - from technology and digital to marketing, going through law , medicine, engineering, management and logistics, fundraising (financing) among other sectors of activity - and quickly climbed to a larger group of people who started to chat through the Slack platform, to get a better understanding of how to put their knowledge and talent at the service of the community.

That was how the technological movement Tech4Covid19 was born, a "very collaborative" network, organized essentially in these eight task forces, which coordinate and provide all the necessary support for the development and implementation of projects that, by the hand of startups, companies and informal groups, were born in order to embrace this technological platform to combat the new coronavirus, tells "Porto.", Liliana Pinho, Tech4Covid19 communication and marketing coordinator.

And, in fact, "not even a week has passed yet and it seems that we have been working on this for months", continues to report one of the drivers of the movement, who even says that the degree of adhesion to the platform has been extraordinary and that Tech4Covid19 is to climb very fast, thus reaching more cities and people.

Meet some projects and learn how you can participate and/or benefit

Among the main ongoing projects, the highlight was "the raising of more than 100 thousand euros for the purchase of medical equipment", such as fans, by the hand of GoParaty, a sustainable investment platform, in this short period of time. "In 24 hours, they got 23 thousand euros", highlights Liliana Pinho.

We must also count on the support of LuGGit, a luggage collection, storage and delivery company, which has readjusted itself to ensure a service for the delivery of goods and articles to family and friends during the time of isolation. For now, it operates in Porto and Lisbon.

In the city of Porto, where Tech4Covid19 was born, it was also possible to close a partnership with the application "Too good to go", which combats food waste through surplus orders at reduced prices. At the moment, they are already delivering meals at the Santa Maria Hospital.

An application is still under development to record the number of people infected or potentially infected, which seeks to identify and predict contagion networks, mapping the population's status in relation to the new coronavirus.

"This tracking is being carried out in permanent contact with the health authorities (DGS, ARS-Norte) and with other institutions, including Turismo de Portugal and Startup Portugal", informs the person responsible for the communication of Tech4Covid. In fact, there is even a team dedicated to interacting with public entities, this morning reported to Radio Observador, Filipe Ávila da Costa, spokesman for the technological movement.

These providers have also managed to gather more than a hundred doctors available for free video consultations on primary health care and various specialties. Liliana Pinho advances that there are three platforms that will make this bridge: Knok and Zaask. The initiative covers the entire national territory, just having a computer and Internet.

Among more than twenty projects in progress, Tech4Covid19 provides matching (link) between hotel units and local accommodation and health professionals, to support relocated doctors and nurses.

In addition to the website, the technological movement Tech4Covid19 is on the social networks Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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