Governments are increasingly reliant on digital technology to expand access to critical information, provide essential services, and connect with their communities. When Covid-19 hit, Accela asked government IT decision-makers about the most critical, time-sensitive actions needed to keep operations running and citizens safe. In just two weeks, Acela developed a suite of 13 cloud solutions to help local and state governments and agencies work remotely, offer online services to citizens, and conduct virtual inspections--and helped implement these solutions within a week despite financial and human resource constraints.

Everlywell supplies at-home health testing kits, including the first at-home Covid-19 test to receive Food and Drug Administration approval. At the onset of the pandemic, the company jumped on the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization to create a lab network that enabled a huge increase in processed testing. Once the test kit was developed, Everlywell shipped tens of thousands of kits to frontline health care workers, using its network of labs and FDA authorization to expedite processing. Everlywell's approach since has been imitated by other diagnostic and treatment providers. Everlywell is now shipping tests to government workers, large offices, and universities and has been instrumental in a legal battle for six million Maryland residents to gain access to home testing.

Molecular diagnostics--scanning DNA for genes associated with disease--is the most accurate method of early disease detection, but usually requires large, expensive laboratory facilities and trained experts, slowing results. Mammoth’s DETECTR tool was built to bypass many of those obstacles to rapid testing, and in January, the company reconfigured DETECTR to make the first CRISPR-based test for Covid-19. The test is a low-cost option that produces highly accurate results in just 30 minutes--instead of the 24-hour minimum required by many other tests.

Nonin--short for noninvasive--invented fingertip pulse oximeters nearly 25 years ago. Those devices, which measure how well a person is absorbing oxygen, have been vital in the fight against Covid-19. Demand skyrocketed this year, and Nonin worked through a supply chain shortage to ramp up production, donating many of its devices to underserved communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The company also received FDA clearance for another device, the first-ever handheld wireless device capable of reading multiple vital signs.