Coronavirus: Government Offers £500k to Tech Businesses for Isolation Innovation

Monday 23 March

In addition to the extensive measures the government has implemented to deal with coronavirus and its effect on the economy, today the government have announced £500,000 for businesses that can help with people who are self-isolating.

Announced by the Department for Health and Social Care, the ‘Techforce19’ challenge aims to support those who need to stay at home for several weeks. Up to £25,000 per company is available.

As announced:

The programme is looking for digital solutions that can be launched in the next few weeks, and could include:

• providing remote social care – for example, by locating and matching qualified carers to those in need optimising the volunteer sector – for example, by developing tools to recruit, train and coordinate local volunteers into clinical and non-clinical workers
• improving mental health support – for example, by making it easier to discover and deliver mental health services and support
• any other solutions to ease pressures on services and people during this time

This technology will supplement existing support for those who may be most affected by staying at home for long periods of time.

The full announcement is listed here.

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