Osler clients are leading the way in fighting COVID-19

Toronto-based digital health company BlueDot has developed a first-of-its-kind, global early warning technology for infectious diseases. Combining human and artificial intelligence, BlueDot tracks outbreaks from over 150 infectious diseases and syndromes worldwide in 65 languages around the clock and anticipates their potential for global spread and impact.

On April 1, 2020, Bruce Power, a company that provides nuclear power to one in three homes, hospitals, schools and businesses in Ontario, announced it was donating 600,000 pieces of personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and gowns to support Ontario’s front-line health care workers in their battle against COVID-19.

Cameco, one of the largest global producers of uranium fuel, has launched its $1 million Cameco COVID-19 Relief Fund to support community organizations in Saskatoon and northern Saskatchewan and a $250,000 Fund for the Northumberland County and the Blind River area in Ontario.

Cyclica, a Toronto-based neo biotechnology company that is decentralizing the discovery of medicines by leveraging AI and computational biophysics, has been deploying its resources to better understand COVID-19 and working on developing a potential treatment with partnerships with multiple research institutions around the world. Cyclica has been offering the use of Ligand Design, its AI-augmented drug discovery platform, to researchers and biotech companies at no upfront cost.

DarwinAI is a Waterloo-based start-up creating next-generation technologies for artificial intelligence development. On March 22, 2020, DarwinAI announced that it has developed COVID-Net in collaboration with researchers at the University of Waterloo’s VIP Lab.

Distantly.ca is a recently launched crowdfunding website that facilitates donations for local Toronto businesses that have been forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 25, 2020, Element AI, a global developer of artificial intelligence software and solutions, announced that it created a free search platform to help those researching COVID-19 to find answers and patterns in research papers by enabling them to locate relevant work across thousands of published papers.

FLATTEN is a not-for-profit organization made up of a group of scientists, engineers, and clinicians who created an online screening tool to help increase awareness and flatten the curve of COVID-19’s spread.

Grocery Hero is a service that connects health care workers with volunteer shoppers in their neighbourhood to help deliver their grocery orders to them. The service helps to ensure medical workers have access to groceries even when delivery services are oversubscribed and helps to lower the risk of public exposure to COVID-19.

Inkbox, a company that produces semi-permanent tattoos, has shifted part of its production to personal protection equipment and is donating 1,000 face shields per week to healthcare workers fighting COVID-19. The company plans to ramp up production in May to 10,000 face shields per week.

The leader of PyroGenesis Canada Inc., a company that works on the design, development, manufacture and commercialization of advanced plasma processes, has made a donation in support of healthcare workers fighting COVID-19.

On March 30, 2020, ResQ, a company that helps restaurants streamline their repairs and maintenance, launched a new initiative called ResQ Helps, which raises funds to send meals from local restaurants to frontline workers and people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 7, 2020, Teva Canada, a company that specializes in the development, production and marketing of high-quality generic prescription pharmaceuticals, announced that it has teamed up with Huddol to create the Caregiver Community Fund. The initiative provides Canadian caregivers free access to one-on-one video support sessions with multidisciplinary healthcare professionals for 30 days to help them get emotional support and guidance in dealing with the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust, one of Canada's largest fully integrated real estate investment trusts, announced on March 23, 2020 that it was offering rent-free use of a total of up to 1-million square feet of space, in 200 shopping centers across Canada, to governments and health care authorities to assist in their COVID-19 support efforts.

Vox Pop Labs, a company that uses data science to improve democratic participation, has launched a multi-national study in conjunction with public health researchers to help inform and evaluate the government and public health measures put in place in response to COVID-19.