How do you advance in combatting the coronavirus crisis? Looking at the following example, the answer is clear: through collaboration and joining resources! 

A group of five Spanish citizens managed to bring four robots from China to Spanish hospitals in order to rapidly analyse the mass testing samples of COVID-19. Each of these robots is capable of processing 2,400 test samples, which can result in nearly 70,000 analysed tests per week. For the robots to reach the hospitals in need, Rocío Martínez (researcher at King´s College London), Andreu Veà (professor and internet pioneer), Javier Colàs (Chief Innovation Officer of Esade), Sandra Figaredo (senior consultant of Llorente & Cuenca), and María Parga, (Director of BME) worked closely together, identified companies to help them with their resources and organised the collaboration between these big companies.

The team succeeded by taking the following steps: 

• Identifying the robots produced by Opentrons and locating their manufacturing side in China;
• Achieving private funding given by Merlin Properties;
• Bringing the robots from Shenzhen, China, to Spain with the help of Inditex´s logistic network;
• Obtaining computers to operate the robots, which were donated by Apple;
• Getting engineers for programming the robots and paying their salaries, with the support from Manpower and Telefónica;
• Installing the robots and computer equipment in the hospitals in Barcelona and Madrid, with help from IKEA and Renfe;

In a nutshell, the team managed to activate support from a myriad of companies which all provided assistance in their respective field: Opentrons provided the robots, Merlin provided funding, Inditex used its logistics, Apple and Telefónica their computer systems and resources, IKEA provided tables, Manpower recruited engineers, and Renfe gave logistical support in Spain. 

The whole project was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of the Interior. 

For further inspiration, read the full story here (in Spanish).

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