What technologies developed during the coronavirus pandemic?

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology. We witnessed a shift from in-person interactions in schools and offices to digital formats. Under normal circumstances, this transition would have taken decades, but quarantine measures shortened the timeline. We have selected technologies that experienced rapid growth during the pandemic year.Online EducationEdTech players benefited from the shift to remote work and education. People filled their freed-up time with online courses. Coursera, with 77 million users, is a popular platform. Since its founding in 2012, many competitors have emerged, including Udemy, Lynda, Skillshare, and Udacity. In February 2020, Udemy raised $50 million in investment at a valuation of $2 billion, and in November, the company announced it would receive an additional $100 million (at a valuation of $3.3 billion). Coursera raised $130 million in July 2020 (at a valuation of $2.2 billion). We also have local analogs to online courses: Courstore, which launched last year and offers 38 courses, including some in Kazakh. According to Crunchbase, total investment in children's educational services alone in the second half of 2020 exceeded $4 billion, an amount comparable to the budget of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstani businesses are ready to invest in the education market: BI Group University, DAR lab, and Kaspi Lab are pilot projects demonstrating the seriousness of these intentions. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="495"] Source: unsplash.com, @artlambi[/caption] RoboticsOne of the most dangerous places became the hospital. To avoid infection, robots were actively used there for delivering medicines and food (for example, in China and Singapore) as well as for disinfecting premises. The Danish company UVD Robots delivered hundreds of robots capable of treating premises with ultraviolet light, and Irish robotics engineers taught this capability to their robot Stevie, which was originally designed as a companion for the elderly. Russian scientists have begun developing a robot capable of replacing medical staff in the red zone. A similar robot has already been invented in China: it also consists of a robotic arm on wheels that can perform ultrasounds, take mouth swabs, and listen to a patient's breathing without the need for a stethoscope. Boston Children's Hospital is testing a Boston Dynamics robot. Spot surveys patients with mild cases of COVID-19 to record their symptoms. Robots are replacing not only doctors but also support staff who fell ill or left for their home countries due to the virus. The robot Franziska replaced cleaners during a three-week testing phase at Neuperlach Hospital in Munich, Germany.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="483"] Source: fainaidea.com[/caption]  AutomationAccording to a report by MIT economists, by 2025, robots will replace up to 2 million workers in manufacturing. Machines do not get sick, do not need to self-isolate, and do not need rest. Automation allows companies to achieve more with fewer people. In 1964, the most valuable company in the US, AT&T, employed 758,611 people; today, the most valuable company, Apple, employs 137,000 people.Industries that relied on manual operations, such as warehouse shipping or packaging, are introducing more automated or teleoperated systems. Unlike traditional manually operated machines, with remote control, the operator can be located anywhere in the world.Kazakhstani companies have also become more active in using RPA solutions. These software robots, which mimic human actions, interact with various interfaces of information systems. During the pandemic year, Kcell automated eight mass processes, freeing up 55,000 minutes of human time that can be spent on other work tasks. The time required to connect corporate services in end-to-end business processes involving robots has also decreased.DronesThe crisis is stimulating innovation in drone usage. The global perception of drones is changing. Once annoying buzzing objects overhead, drones have become a lifeline in the fight against COVID-19. They help create more resilient supply chains, socially distanced delivery services, and more. Rwanda began delivering blood to hospitals using unmanned deliveries, becoming the first country in the world to perform more drone flights than traditional methods. Switzerland adopted drones years earlier than other countries, recognizing their advantages on a small scale and taking a leading position in Europe. In addition to governments, companies have adopted the technology. Walmart online shoppers in North Dakota are using an unusual delivery method. In addition to store pickup or courier delivery, a drone startup offers to deliver goods by air.Additionally, in 2020, during the state of emergency, drones identified 20 quarantine violations in Taraz. Drones used by the army allow people to spot crowds from hundreds of meters above.One can imagine the impact of technology on life and the general trends that are already emerging by looking back at previous pandemics and analyzing what is already happening. Previous crises accelerated the adoption of technologies such as e-commerce in China after the SARS epidemic in 2005. Furthermore, the 1918 pandemic stimulated innovation in microbiology and public health. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="463"] Source: unsplash.com, @gmk[/caption] 5G and Enhanced ConnectivityTo maintain service quality and reduce network congestion, telecommunications operators began investing in 5G networks. Some believed that 2020 would be the year of the fifth-generation network. However, due to the unexpected shift to remote work, rural areas in Kazakhstan suffered from a lack of Internet. As of the end of 2020, out of 6,500 rural settlements in the country, 5,322 are covered by the Internet. In 2021, the launch of a pilot 5G network in the capital is planned.5G download speeds are 100 times higher than 4G. Operators, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, began deploying it in 2019. Verizon stated last year that half of the US would have access to 5G by the end of 2020. The US government was also behind the launch. In China, which is slightly ahead of the US in deploying this technology, 5G is used to support medical applications and apps that track user temperature.Consumer (B2C) data consumption will continue to grow as social distancing persists until vaccination. As companies shift to digital models, data consumption will continue to rise, simultaneously increasing the load on 4G systems.