The Waterford company behind the Covid-19 tracking app has won an Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Award.
Nearform, which is based in Tramore, won the Innovation for Change Award, which recognises the achievements of an individual or team who have had a positive impact on society through innovation.
After being approached by the HSE in March 2020, NearForm, a software solutions company, gathered a remote team overnight and set about creating a Covid-19 contact tracing app.
The company had a working prototype of the Covid Tracker app within ten days and it was launched in July, with over a quarter of Ireland’s population downloading it within the first 36 hours, making it one of the most successfully launched contact tracing apps in the world.
NearForm supported the Irish Government and the HSE in donating the underlying code to the Linux Foundation Public Health, under the name COVID Green. This enabled other Public Health Authorities across the world to use it for free to build their own apps.
This means so much https://t.co/igAjl8IHdJ
— #SlavaUkraini (@Cianomaidin) December 15, 2020
COVID Green goes beyond the basic exposure notification and includes symptom checking, statistical updates, public health information to put the power in people's hands to protect themselves and others while helping to break transmission chains.
The awards seek to recognise those who have had a humanitarian impact on the lives of others through volunteering, skill sharing, storytelling, or fundraising and will highlight the efforts of those who have given a voice to humanitarian issues.
