The City of Toronto is set to announce a new program, ShopHERE, aimed at helping Toronto’s independent businesses build and optimize online stores at no cost, BetaKit has learned.

Launched in conjunction with Digital Main Street, a program of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, the initiative will also receive support from Toronto’s technology community.

ShopHERE’s goal is to help local independent small businesses and artists that currently do not have the resources to build an online store. Web developers from a number of Toronto tech companies will build and launch 3,000 online stores through the program over the next three months.

Apple Inc is planning to expand its investment in Taiwan by building a new plant in the Longtan (龍潭) section of Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), the Hsinchu Science Park Bureau said yesterday.

The administration on Feb. 18 approved a plan by Apple’s Taiwan branch to set up a new plant in Longtan, Taoyuan, where the US firm has its existing operations, according to company registration data obtained by the Central News Agency.

The city of Tallinn and the Tehnopol Science and Business Park have announced a Tallinnovation innovation competition to find smart city solutions; the size of the innovation fund in 2020 is €50,000.

Tehnopol, the largest research and business park in Estonia, said in a statement that the organisers hope to support new smart city solutions that “will make the city of Tallinn more modern, more people-friendly, more cost-efficient and more open”.

MONTREAL, April 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - AMD Medicom Inc. ("Medicom"), one of the world's leading manufacturers of surgical and respiratory masks, confirms their new Canadian mask production facility will be situated in Montreal, Quebec. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of securing local production of personal protective equipment (PPE) and both the Canadian and Quebec governments are the latest in a growing number around the world seeking to partner with Medicom.

With new long-term supply agreements being finalized with both the Canadian and Quebec governments, Medicom has confirmed that their first Canadian mask manufacturing facility will open near their Montreal head office by July 2020 and will create at least 33 permanent jobs.

OAKVILLE, ON, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Additive Manufacturing company, Burloak Technologies, a division of Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, today announced it will support the fight against COVID-19 by producing face shields that will be used by frontline medical and healthcare workers. This personal protective equipment was designed and tested in collaboration with Hamilton Health Sciences and Mohawk College. Production has begun and will ramp up to volumes of approximately 10,000 units per week.

"Additive manufacturing is an ideal process to scale any design to commercial production in the shortest time possible, and applying our capabilities in this battle is the right thing to do," stated Colin Osborne, President & CEO, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited. "NGen played a valuable role in the rapid response to get this project underway. Without this funding, it would not have been possible to achieve the same scale in this accelerated timeframe."

Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center and the nation's largest independent primary care physician practice are among clients adding 10,000 new users in three weeks for telehealth technology made by Updox LLC as healthcare quickly adapted for the coronavirus pandemic.

Dublin-based Updox, which makes secure communications and workflow software for physician practices, added a videoconferencing feature last year. Demand soared this spring as patients stayed home to prevent possible Covid-19 exposure.

TAIPEI—Taiwan has won global praise for its response to the coronavirus pandemic. As the world closes borders and enforces quarantines to combat the outbreak, leaders are looking to Taipei for a model to emulate—and, increasingly, for help.

On March 19, Taiwan closed its borders to nonresidents amid a second wave of imported cases among travelers returning from abroad. The self-governing island now has 379 COVID-19 cases, a number that has remained relatively low due to a series of aggressive containment, quarantine, and monitoring measures that have limited local transmission of the coronavirus.

FREDERICTON — With the COVID-19 pandemic making businesses globally reliant on online sales to survive, a Fredericton newcomer’s company has been getting a lot more inquiries these days.

Adetunji Adelakun is the founder and CEO of Scantranx, cloud-based software for retailers and wholesalers. It integrates services such as inventory management, e-commerce, point-of-sale, reports and analytics, CRM, social media, and omnichannel solutions into one platform.

The company got its start in 2015 in Nigeria, where Adelakun is originally from.

Footballers in Finland, left with no games or training due to the coronavirus restrictions, are finding new ways to tackle the impact of the epidemic.

Players and staff at AC Oulu haven’t yet faced mandatory salary cuts, but as a way to ensure the club’s wages bill is fully met each month, they’re taking on odd jobs and helping the community at the same time.

Telemedicine startup Viveo Health has raised €2 million to provide medical help via video bridge, and act as a form of ‘social distancing’. In summary, the service will help control the spread of the coronavirus in the waiting rooms of healthcare institutions.

Viveo Health, founded in 2018, began to reduce obstacles on the way to a quick diagnosis and services. Raul Källo, the founder and CEO of Viveo Health, has commented that by moving people away from crowded waiting rooms, it can reduce the spread of the virus, and people with a variety of health problems do not have to put themselves at added risk.