Business and public, private and voluntary sector professionals in the Tees Valley and County Durham are now able to sign up to free digital skills training – both technical and creative – following some quick thinking by Teesside University as part of its comprehensive response to Covid-19.

As the global retail industry continues to feel the full impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Swiss retail technology company meepl - the easy-to-use and time-saving online shopping companion for clothing - has announced it will offer complimentary access to their smartphone-enabled, 3D body scanning technology for vulnerable SMEs working within the fashion industry. 

During times of great uncertainty for businesses large and small, global affiliate network Awin is giving startups and SMEs a helping hand, by waiving the monthly fee for the first three months for companies launching an affiliate programme using its Awin Access self-managed solution. This is in addition to zero setup fees. 

When Google for Startups announced its accelerator on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in November, it did not foresee how dramatically day-to-day life would soon change. The COVID-19 pandemic and its widespread health, social and economic consequences have made the goal of the program - to help founders build technology to solve serious issues facing our world - even more pressing. 

STARTUP3 is a new business acceleration programme that aims to bring innovative tech ideas into the industry through its extensive business and growth programme and pool of corporates and investors! Funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme, it allows startups and SMEs to gain extensive and expensive set of business services for free, mentors from big European corporations, direct access to the corporations and investors.

Farm491, the AgriTech incubator based at the Royal Agricultural University, has adapted its season of events exploring the future of British Farming to comply with the UK’s Covid-19 social distancing measures. The organisation has developed a programme of webinars throughout April, many of which will be available to everyone, with a few select online events being held exclusively for its members.

Tickets have been launched for a leadership conference that will bring some big names to the town on the 23rd September 2020, as part of a conference organised by Shropshire HR to ‘inspire, challenge and evolve’ leadership in the region.

When Monzo needed to launch their new business accounts, they asked Studio Output to help develop the visual identity. Over a series of design sprints, the partnership delivered an identity system with the simplicity and magic people love about Monzo, and the trust and reassurance businesses need from a bank.

UK startup OpenSpace, whose digital twin platform measures real-time passenger movement, have discovered a new use for their technology in the fight against coronavirus. The pioneering system currently deployed at St Pancras station in London, can monitor social distancing through detecting and visualising the distance between passengers in real-time. It can also compare historical weekly and daily information for trend analysis.

Kickstart is welcoming applications for the fifth iteration of its annual B2B scale-up programme aimed at late-stage startups interested in entering the Swiss market.

Pluralsight, the enterprise technology skills platform, has announced that in an effort to encourage technology learners around the world to stay safe and stay home, the company is offering full access to its entire platform of technology skill development courses for free throughout the month of April. Technology learners that currently do not have a paid Pluralsight subscription can now access more than 7,000 courses taught by the world’s leading experts in their respective fields free of charge.

WhatWeWant (WWW) encourages people to perform acts of kindness amid Covid-19 crisis, and has there for announced that it will be donating all fees incurred by people using its crowdfunding app to charity.

VoxSmart, the global leader in communications surveillance technology for Financial Markets, has recently announced a strategic funding round of £5.5m ($7.2m) from NatWest. 

Kemp Little has launched a free advisory resource to help businesses navigate tax, legal and financial processes thrown into discord by Coronavirus.

Half of women have experienced discrimination while working at a tech firm, new research from Studio Graphene has revealed. The London-based digital agency commissioned a survey of 500 full-time workers in the UK tech industry. It found that 49% of women have experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace, while 20% have resigned from a role in the past because of discrimination or harassment.

Treedy’s, the technology market-leader in ensuring the right clothing size for customers via instantaneous, fully-clothed and precise scanning technology, today announced it is making available its first generation software as open-source in order to facilitate access to its cutting edge quality 3D scans by research institutions, universities and other non-profit organisations. 

A practical support package to help businesses through the coronavirus emergency has been put together by Teesside University. Along with other agencies, the University is working with the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority to ensure a coordinated approach, helping the region’s businesses to stay resilient and to be ready to grow when the crisis is over.

Planet saving startups and entrepreneurs now have just one week to apply to this year’s Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge, one of the world’s largest competitions in sustainable entrepreneurship. Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge rewards British, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Swedish startups that successfully combine sustainability, entrepreneurship and creativity to help tackle some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. This year’s competition closes at midday (GMT) on 1st April.

WISE the campaign for greater gender balance has urged employers, particularly those working in science, engineering, technology and manufacturing (STEM), to keep inclusion on their agenda in these difficult times, highlighting that diversity brings greater innovation.

British startup Guild, in partnership with London Research, has launched a new study 'Mastering Messaging in the Workplace' aimed at helping businesses and professionals understand the opportunities and challenges of using messaging at work.