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Rolls Royce leading Covid-19 Response Alliance
17 April 2020
Rolls-Royce has invited a group of companies to collaborate on a new project to find new and faster ways to support businesses and governments globally as they recover from the economic impacts of Covid-19.
Early members of Emer2gent include Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, IBM, Google Cloud, The Data City, Truata, Rolls-Royce and ODI Leeds. The alliance will be facilitated and co-ordinated by innovation specialist, Whitespace.
Together the initial wave of members brings all the key elements of open innovation; data publication, licensing, privacy, security; data analytics capability; and collaborative infrastructure, to kick off its early work and grow its membership.
Emer2gent will combine traditional economic, business, travel and retail data sets with behaviour and sentiment data, to provide new insights into – and practical applications to support – the global recovery from Covid-19.
Rolls-Royce has said Emer2gent models will help get people and businesses back to work as soon as possible by identifying lead indicators of economic recovery cycles.
Businesses, both small and large, around the world, as well as governments, can use these insights to build the confidence they need to take early decisions, such as investments or policies, that could shorten or limit the recessionary impacts from the pandemic.
The alliance is voluntary and insights will be published for free.
Caroline Gorski, global director, R2 Data Labs, the Rolls-Royce data innovation catalyst which started the alliance, said: “We want the global economy to get better as soon as possible so people can get back to work. Our data innovation community can help do this and is at its best when it comes together for the common good.
“People, businesses and governments around the world have changed the way they spend, move, communicate and travel because of Covid-19 and we can use that insight, along with other data, to provide the basis for identifying what new insights and trends may emerge that signify the world’s adjustment to a ‘new normal’ after the pandemic.”