Critical Frontier: Leveraging Technology to Combat COVID-19

The report identifies 232 technology use cases across seven functional categories: information management, detection and containment, healthcare provider enablement, treatment acceleration, economic resilience, social cohesion, and cybersecurity. It highlights a high concentration of innovation in China and significant growth in detection and healthcare enablement tools, while noting gaps in social cohesion and treatment acceleration. The document also warns of a lack of collaboration between developers, which creates interoperability challenges, and observes a geographic imbalance in technology access, with far fewer solutions developed for Africa, Oceania, and Latin America.

• The report categorises technology responses into seven functional areas: information management (factual information sharing), detection and containment (early detection and non-pharmaceutical intervention), healthcare provider enablement (tools for front-line workers), treatment acceleration (drug and vaccine discovery), economic resilience (commercial continuity), social cohesion (communication and mental health), and cybersecurity (mitigating remote work risks).
• There has been significant growth in solutions for detection, containment, and healthcare provider enablement, which increased by approximately 300% compared to an April 2020 compendium. China is noted for high levels of innovation, particularly in AI-powered detection, blockchain sourcing for small businesses, and e-contract services via WeChat.
• Significant gaps exist in the 'Social Cohesion' and 'Treatment Acceleration' categories. Social cohesion has the fewest use cases despite its importance for the success of stay-at-home orders, while treatment acceleration has the fewest new cases, suggesting a high barrier to entry.
• A lack of collaboration among developers poses a risk to the effectiveness of the response. Less than one-third of the identified solutions were developed through public-private collaborations or joint ventures between two or more companies, leading to challenges in standardization and interoperability.
• There is a stark geographic disparity in the development and targeting of technology tools. Only 19 solutions were developed in or specifically for Africa, Oceania, or Latin America, whereas Asia had 69, North America 54, and Europe 20.

APA

World Economic Forum (2020). Critical Frontier: Leveraging Technology to Combat COVID-19. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Critical_Frontier_Leveraging_Technology_Combat_COVID_19_2020.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Critical Frontier: Leveraging Technology to Combat COVID-19. 2020. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Critical_Frontier_Leveraging_Technology_Combat_COVID_19_2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Critical Frontier: Leveraging Technology to Combat COVID-19 |date=July 2020 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Critical_Frontier_Leveraging_Technology_Combat_COVID_19_2020.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2020critical, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Critical Frontier: Leveraging Technology to Combat COVID-19}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, month = jul, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Critical_Frontier_Leveraging_Technology_Combat_COVID_19_2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }