COVID-19 Updates & Resources

Indiana businesses across the state are answering the call to support the global novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response effort. The state’s manufacturers are leveraging their resources, supply chains and Hoosier workers to produce personal protection equipment (PPE) for health care providers, while business and community leaders have stepped up to source and donate additional materials. Here is a list of Indiana manufacturing companies sourcing and making PPE for their fellow Hoosiers:

• The Acid Products-Prairie Packaging Company (LaPorte County), an independent chemical distributor specializing in the packaging and distribution of chemicals and blends, is now helping meet demand for hand sanitizer and hard surface cleaners. The company’s Kingsbury facility is providing hand sanitizer to the state and also donated supplies to first responders in LaPorte County.

• After Action Medical and Dental Supply (Marion County), which was started in 2010 by a service disabled veteran, distributes products nationally to health care providers, the Veterans Affairs Medical System, and U.S. Department of Defense. The company is leveraging its supply chain to provide more than 400,000 nitrile gloves.

• Berry Global Group Inc. (Vanderburgh County), a global, Evansville-based Fortune 500 company, is accelerating production of plastic face shields and aims to soon reach production of 150,000 per week. The company will provide 30,000 face shields to the state, helping provide an added protection for first responders and medical personnel. Berry Global is also leveraging the support of Evansville-based suppliers for foam materials and elastic cutting.

• Cardinal Spirits (Monroe County), which first opened in 2015, is a craft distillery in Bloomington that distributes spirits to more than 200 retail locations in Indiana. The company has paused beverage operations, leveraging its distillery to produce hand sanitizer. It has distributed 50,000 gallons since mid-March.

• Fatheadz Eyewear (Marion County), founded in Indianapolis in 2004, creates and offers eyewear specifically tailored to customers with heads too large to fit in standard width sunglasses comfortably. The company has now shifted its operations to produce fluid protective goggles, safety glasses and shields and plans to fulfill an order of several thousand items to the state yet this week.

• Fleece Performance Engineering (Hendricks County), established in 2008, is a manufacturer of automotive products headquartered in Pittsboro. The company, which makes products such as turbochargers, fuel system components and repair parts, has redeployed its engineers and a portion of its flexible manufacturing space to develop, test, document and begin producing lightweight disposable full face shields. The company now has the capacity to produce up to 250,000 per week.

• GDC Inc. (Elkhart County), a certified Woman Business Enterprise, is a total solutions provider of products and components to a range of industries, supplying 20 million parts annually to companies like Ford, Toyota, GM and Trane. The Goshen-based company plans to start manufacturing disposable full face shields in April and expects to provide 500,000 pieces to the state.

• Hentz Manufacturing (Allen County), a commercial sewing business that pivoted from Cinda B bag production to medical supplies, has already produced and distributed 90,000 pieces of PPE, including isolation gowns, face masks and face shields, in just a few weeks. The company is now producing N95 face mask respirators, filling a critical need for these items that effectively filter out a minimum of 95% of airborne particles. The company, which coordinated with Indiana University Health to ensure proper fit and filtration, delivered the first batch of N95 masks on April 24 and plans to produce 1 million in total. The company is currently hiring for sewers and supervisors to support its efforts to meet increased needs for PPE.

• Jordan Manufacturing Company Inc. (Newton & White Counties), a Monticello-based family owned and operated business, produces outdoor patio textiles, such as cushions, umbrellas, furniture, curtains, beverage buddies, bean bags and indoor cushions. The company has shifted production at its Indiana facilities in Monticello and Kentland to make isolation gowns to support healthcare providers, producing 11,500 for the state.

• Mastercraft (LaGrange County), the world’s largest maker of RV furniture, has been serving manufacturers and direct consumers since 1971. The LaGrange-based company is now using its expertise to manufacture non-medical isolation gowns, producing thousands each week.

• Mursix Corporation (Delaware County), which specializes in stamping and component manufacturing, serves a wide range of customers whose applications range from hospital beds to automotive safety to hybrid electric vehicles. The Yorktown company is now manufacturing up to 500,000 face shields each week.

• Royer Corporation (Jefferson County), a leading manufacturer of custom injection molded food service equipment, custom swizzle sticks, beverage stirrers, picks and a variety of branded promotional products, is utilizing its resources to create face shields for medical workers. The Madison-based, family-owned company plans to produce 75,000 weekly pieces, sending 20,000 to support the state’s efforts so far. Royer has partnered with Clifty Engineering, also based in Madison, to fabricate and build an additional die cutting machine, which will double its output of face shields.

• Sugar Creek Bottling Company (Marion County), which is full service, hand-crafted e-liquid manufacturing company specializing in private labeling and flavor development. The company has shifted production to provide hand sanitizer.

• SuperATV (Jefferson County), a provider of aftermarket All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV) and Utility Task Vehicles (UTV) parts and accessories, has shifted production to make lightweight full face shields, intubation shields and retail employee protective barriers, with plans to produce face shields for the state’s front-line workers.

• Tiedemann-Bevs Industries (TBI) (Wayne County), has been operating in Richmond since 1974. TBI, which manufactures interior casket components and distributes essential textiles to hundreds of casket manufacturers in the industry, is now producing 1,000 isolation gowns per week.

• Top Stitch (Elkhart County) is a family owned commercial sewing business that serves diverse industries, including RVs, equine supplies, interior design and hospitality. The company, one of Indiana’s more than 508,000 small businesses, has applied its textile experience to the healthcare industry and is now making medical gowns and surgical face masks, filling orders to the state as well as to customers in the Northeast U.S.

• Williams Distribution (Marion County), a minority-owned chemical distribution company in Indianapolis, helps manufacturers with supply chain simplification, product sourcing and on time delivery. The company is leveraging its expertise to support the increased need for PPE and is shipping nearly 48,000 items, including hand sanitizer, medical gowns and gloves, to the state.

• Worldcell Extrusions (Elkhart County), which has been manufacturing thermoplastic foams for the packaging industry since 2015, has adjusted production at its 90,000-square-foot facility in Elkhart to produce lightweight face shields for medical workers.
  
  

AEROSPACE + DEFENSE

Pierce Aerospace is preparing to help hospital systems relieve resource constraints by enabling medical delivery via drones, such as getting blood or test kits to rural America. They are fielding inquiries from local, national and international hospitals and governments seeking to scale a drone delivery response quickly and in compliance with pending regulations. For more information, email info@pierceaerospace.net

MSP Aviation will begin manufacturing and distributing face shields from its Bloomington facility. The shields are custom-designed by doctors and nurses to meet the specific requirements of healthcare workers. Read more

Several Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) employees are 3D printing hundreds of ear guards to donate to healthcare workers in need. These employees are volunteering to use their own 3D printing machines and supplies to alleviate the pain medical professionals are currently experiencing while wearing masks for extended periods of time. Read more

HIGHER EDUCATION

Butler University’s research lab has been studying other coronaviruses for years – some quite similar to COVID-19. Butler’s research is aimed at finding a drug or therapeutic that could be given to those who have already contracted the disease. Read more

IU Researchers in Indianapolis are working to develop new diagnostic tests to more quickly and accurately detect the viral strain. Scientists from the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI and the School of Medicine are working with Indiana University Health on the tests that could eventually lead to quicker diagnoses of health care workers and others on the front lines. Read more

College employees at Ivy Tech Community College are using 3D printers to make face masks for healthcare workers, nursing home employees and many others to assist healthcare professionals in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Read more

Purdue University biomedical engineers are working to develop a quick and accurate paper-based test for COVID-19. A clear test result can be read directly from the device making it portable. A version of the test already exists for other coronaviruses. Read more

Purdue University's Bindley Bioscience Center is working with India-based Eyestem Research Private Ltd. to develop cellular platforms for COVID-19 research. Purdue says the agreement allows its investigators to use Eyestem’s cell culture system as part of its anti-COVID screening platform to research the characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Read more

A new volunteer group from Purdue, which dubs themselves the Boiler 'Makers' and includes about 40 participating faculty and staff members representing Purdue Polytechnic Institute, the College of Engineering, and the College of Pharmacy and the School of Nursing, among others, has started producing PPE for Indiana hospitals. Read more

The Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) – located in Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine – is working with Fort Wayne-based Parkview Health to start conducting COVID-19 tests for human patients. Read more 

Purdue University is partnering with Microsoft on a tool designed to get a better understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting research efforts. The COVID-19 Sponsored Program Impact Application allows researchers to receive data that quantifies the financial impact caused by the pandemic, which could potentially be used to secure additional relief funding to continue the affected projects. Read more 

A new volunteer group from Purdue, which dubs themselves the Boiler 'Makers' and includes about 40 participating faculty and staff members representing Purdue Polytechnic Institute, the College of Engineering, and the College of Pharmacy and the School of Nursing, among others, has started producing PPE for Indiana hospitals. Read more

On April 23, Dr. Kristina Box announced the Indiana State Department of Health is collaborating with the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI to conduct a scientific study to measure the spread of COVID-19 throughout the state. The closely monitored study will include random sample testing for SARS-CoV-2 -- the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 -- viral infections and antibodies in Hoosiers. The scientific study will enable the state to take a critical step forward in understanding how COVID-19 is affecting Hoosiers. Read more 

• ISDH and IU will perform scientifically valid random sampling of Hoosiers in tests conducted in four phases over the next year, beginning Saturday, April 25.

• In total, at least 20,000 Hoosiers will be tested for the study. Select members of the public are being asked to participate, by invitation only, to ensure that the sampling is representative of the population.

Indiana University Bloomington Department of Chemistry faculty members Cate Reck and Jon Karty are partnering with Bloomington-based Cardinal Spirits to ramp up production of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Read more 

The University of Notre Dame Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering is designing and manufacturing intubation boxes for local healthcare providers. In addition to the boxes, Notre Dame is completing PPE orders for over 5,000 3D-printed face shields and more than 10,000 “ear savers," which improve the fit and comfort of face masks. Read more 

INDIANA BREWERIES + DISTILLERIES + WINERIES

Indiana distilleries like Hotel Tango and Cardinal Spirits are shifting gears, manufacturing hand cleaners for donations, to help fill the shortage. Read more

MGP Ingredients has significantly increased its production at its Lawrenceburg distillery to support an exponential increase in demand for industrial alcohol, used in the production of hand sanitizers and commercial disinfectants. MGP employees are working around the clock to increase supply to companies that produce these vital products. Additionally, the company continues to support the COVID-19 relief effort with both financial aid and other support to the United States Bartenders' Guild (USBG) Relief Fund and The Restaurant Workers Community Foundation Emergency Relief Fund. Read more

Oakley Brothers Distillery in Anderson has produced a little more than 200 gallons of the sanitizer and donated it to hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, assisted-living facilities, first responders and jails. The distillery is also letting the public bring in their own pint-size spray containers and fill them with hand sanitizer for personal use for free. Read more

Fort Wayne-based Three Rivers Distilling Company, typically known for their 100 percent grain-to-bottle, Indiana-made, non-GMO spirits, is now converting all of their processes and equipment to producing hand sanitizer for the foreseeable future. Read more

French Lick Winery and Spirits of French Lick in West Baden Springs are now producing hand sanitizer for the local police departments and emergency management services. Read more

Starlight Distillery at Huber's Orchard, Winery and Vineyards are using their resources to create hand sanitizer at their facility, using it to help out Indiana's front line workers in healthcare, emergency services and essential employee work places. Read more

Greenwood-based Hoosier Brewing Company is manufacturing hand sanitizer for the public and first responders. The brewery has donated hand sanitizer to a number of police departments, including IMPD, Indiana State Police Department, Franklin and Hope, as well as most of the fire departments in those areas, and is selling to the general public. Read more

LIFE SCIENCES

Abbott Laboratories is unveiling a COVID-19 test that can tell if someone is infected in as little as five minutes, and is so small and portable it can be used in almost any health care setting. Additionally, Abbott’s m2000 RealTime system recently received FDA approval for use in hospitals and molecular laboratories to diagnose the infection. Read more

Carmel-based Aria Diagnostics was tapped by New York City, which has the most reported cases of COVID-19 in the nation, to produce and distribute 50,000 test kits weekly for the city. Read more

B2S Life Sciences, which develops tests and provides services for the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry, has started work on a blood test that would recognize COVID-19 antibodies already present in the body. Those antibodies would mean that a person had already contracted the disease, and would not be a danger of further spreading the virus. Creating blood tests that search for a disease is not typically part of B2S Life Sciences’ offerings. But the capabilities, equipment and technology that it has positions the company to develop a serology test for COVID-19. Read more

Catalent announced a collaboration with the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, whereby Catalent’s Biologics business unit will accelerate availability of manufacturing capacity and prepare for large-scale commercial manufacturing at its facility in Bloomington, Indiana of Johnson & Johnson’s lead vaccine candidate for COVID-19. Catalent plans to hire approximately 300 additional employees in Bloomington for this program starting in July 2020 to meet operational readiness and 24×7 manufacturing schedules by January 2021. Read more

Catalent also announced it is partnering with a biotechnology company in Massachusetts to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The company says the deal with Moderna Inc. will involve manufacturing, vial filling and packaging at its biologics facility in Bloomington. Read more

Hill-Rom, which is a global provider of medical technologies such as hospital beds, patient lifts and non-invasive therapeutic products, was recently awarded a more than $20 million contract by the Department of Health and Human Services to produce 3,400 ventilators in support of the COVID-19 response effort. The company was founded in Batesville, Indiana, and continues to maintain a major presence in the state. Read more

On March 24, Hill-Rom also announced plans to more than double production of critical care products like non-invasive ventilators, ICU and med-surg unit smart beds and vitals monitoring devices to meet COVID-19 patient needs. Read more

Eli Lilly and Company is partnering with the Indiana State Department of Health, with support from the Food & Drug Administration, to accelerate testing in Indiana for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Lilly will use its specialized research laboratories to analyze samples taken in Indiana healthcare facilities, including nursing homes and emergency rooms. Read more

Lilly is also offering drive-through testing for SARS-CoV-2 to Indianapolis area health care workers as a service to the community and in an effort to protect health care providers working on the front lines during this epidemic. The company is expanding its drive-through testing to two additional higher-risk groups: workers in businesses included on the state's list of essential operations who have regular contact with the public as part of their job, and people showing symptoms of COVID-19 who are 65 or order, as well as those under 65 with symptoms who have a serious underlying illness, including chronic lung disease, a serious heart condition, immunocompromised patients, and those with uncontrolled serious medical conditions such as diabetes, liver disease and renal failure. Read more

Lilly is exploring whether one of its FDA-approved treatments for rheumatoid arthritis could be used to treat patients with COVID-19. The company announced it will begin clinical trials on the drug baricitinib on U.S. patients who are diagnosed and hospitalized with the disease. Read more

Pierceton-based Paragon Medical, a division of NN Life Sciences, has developed an intubation shield, which went from concept to release in two weeks, to protect healthcare workers from airborne particles when placing an intubation tube into a patient. The company teamed up with Georgia-based Solvay Specialty Polymers in manufacturing the device, which can withstand repeated full cleanings and disinfection. Read more

Parkview Health has partnered with Hospital Laundry Service (HLS) to make cloth masks. HLS and volunteers will be sewing the clinical masks from medical-grade material. The masks will also include nose pieces that were donated and fabricated by Rea Magnet Wire and Schlemmer Brothers Metal Fabrication. Read more

Indianapolis-based Probari Inc., an Indiana University-affiliated startup, is partnering with the Indiana State Department of Health to help improve the healthcare experience for residents at nursing homes and long-term care facilities. As part of the partnership, Probari registered nurses will contact assisted living facilities and nursing homes where residents or staff have tested positive for COVID-19 or are at high risk for outbreaks and will provide staff at the facilities with the latest guidance from the ISDH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more

PTS Diagnostics, a Whitestown, Ind.-based medical device manufacturer, developed a rapid, cost-effective COVID-19 test for non-US markets. Unlike other COVID-19 tests, results are available onsite within minutes and neither a laboratory nor an instrument is needed. Read more

Roche Diagnostics, which received the Food & Drug Administration’s first emergency use authorization for a commercially developed COVID-19 test, has begun deploying tests to hospitals and research laboratories, with plans to ship 400,000 per week to U.S. test sites, including from its global distribution center in Indianapolis. Read more

Roche Diagnostics, which received the Food & Drug Administration’s first emergency use authorization for a commercially developed COVID-19 test, has begun deploying tests to hospitals and research laboratories, with plans to ship 400,000 per week to U.S. test sites, including from its global distribution center in Indianapolis. Read more

Indianapolis-based SpectronRx has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued Emergency Use Authorization for its test kit used for detection of the novel coronavirus. The test kit features a 1.5-hour testing time and a low laboratory footprint requirement. Read more
 

MANUFACTURING

Richmond-based Ahaus Tool & Engineering and B&F Plastics are teaming up with Primex Plastics to produce face shields for health care workers throughout the U.S. Read more

Lebanon-based American Ultraviolet Co. Inc., which engineers, fabricates and manufactures ultraviolet light fixtures that deactivate bacteria, viruses and fungi in laboratories, hospitals, food manufacturing facilities and even health care workers’ homes used to sell about 10 handheld disinfecting lights a month before the coronavirus outbreak. Now, the company is churning out 250 units a week. To keep up with demand, the company changed the housing of its handheld Blade unit into a single piece and reorganized its facility to give that model its own production area. Read more

Berry Global plans to produce 75,000 face shields a week in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Foam products from Thrust Industries in Evansville will be added to the facemasks. Read more

Columbus-based Cummins Inc. and 3M are partnering to build high efficiency particulate filters for 3M’s powered air purifying respirators, which can provide increased levels of respiratory protection, especially for critical healthcare situations. Read more. Cummins also announced the company is planning to produce disposable masks for all of its employees around the world. Read more

General Motors and Ventec Life Systems are working around the clock to meet the urgent need for more ventilators. Efforts to set up tooling and manufacturing capacity at the GM Kokomo facility are now underway to produce Ventec’s critical care ventilator, VOCSN. Ventec and GM are poised to deliver the first ventilators in April and ramp up to a manufacturing capacity of more than 10,000 critical care ventilators per month with the infrastructure and capability to scale further. Read more

Indianapolis-based Genesis Plastics Welding has increased production of hyperbaric oxygen hoods to help free up ventilators for the most critically ill COVID-19 patients. Read more

Hopper Development, Inc., located in Cass County, usually manufactures items for the precision plastic injection molding industry and mold building/tooling services, but has started producing face shields. The company began producing the face shields using its 3D printer, but one of their tool makers quickly designed a mold for the shields and increased production. The company has donated face shields to Logansport Memorial Hospital, St. Vincent Carmel and St. Vincent Women's Hospital.

Kem Krest in Elkhart is working to create its own sanitizer for public use during a shortage. The company specializes in Chemical Packaging and has already made an alcohol-based solution for current customers and employees to utilize. Kem Krest hopes to further production to supply medical workers and other companies or organizations. Read more

Merrillville-based MonoSol has ramped up production of health care laundry bags for customers all over the world, counting the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the company found a creative way to add capacity by getting its production experts and film over to a third-party manufacturing facility that used to manufacture a similar product. The company is now helping those facilities re-start old equipment to make more bags. Read more

Nishikawa Cooper LLC (NISCO), a supplier of dynamic sealing systems for the automotive industry, has adapted its facility to produce and distribute polyethylene isolation gowns for first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. NISCO has already produced enough new gowns to distribute to every fire department in the county. Read more

Fort Wayne-based Phoenix America has developed an emergency use ventilator for healthcare providers.The manufacturer had been contacted to supply parts for emergency use ventilators when it decided to start producing its own, called the PhoenixAir. Read more

Columbus-based Precise Tooling Solutions has created a mobile barrier designed to prevent transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The manufacturer says ViralBarrier can be adapted to school settings from kindergarten through college. Read more

Primex Plastics is working to address the shortage of personal protective equipment in the Wayne County area by manufacturing two types of face shields for clinical staff fighting COVID-19 at Reid Health facilities and plans to ramp up production to help other healthcare providers as well. Read more

Shields Windshields, based in Martinsville, is answering the call to help local hospitals by switching production from glass for construction vehicles to intubation boxes for hospitals. Read more

Sterno Products is sewing protective masks for workers at hospitals, nursing homes and restaurants at its plant in LaPorte. The company usually produces insulated bags to carry food but had built up enough of a stockpile of the food bags that it was able to switch to sewing cloth masks. Read more

Sugar Creek Bottling Company, a full service, hand-crafted e-liquid manufacturing company specializing in private labeling and flavor development, has shifted production to provide hand sanitizer.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana (TMMI) is shifting its manufacturing facilities to produce face shields for local hospitals. Additionally, TMMI donated $50,000 to the United Way of Southwestern Indiana and $11,100 to the Red Cross to sponsor three local community blood drives. Read more

Elkhart-based Transhield is answering the call to support the Indiana COVID-19 response effort, producing and distributing more than 1,000 protective gowns and 60 privacy curtains to local hospitals across the state.

Vera Bradley workers are putting their skills to use and pivoting from producing women’s handbags, luggage and travel items, fashion and home accessories to producing face masks and “wearables” for doctors, nurses and others who are interacting with patients. Read more

RETAIL + SMALL BUSINESS

Annie Oakley Perfumery, client of the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center, has expanded its product lines to include high-quality hand sanitizers in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

Cinda b, which sews its line of machine-washable handbags and its accessories through Hentz Manufacturing, started making face masks and shields and gowns for hospitals, collaborating with Alconex Magnet Wire who created a die for the nose piece, to do its part to protect its community. Read more

Indianapolis-based ClusterTruck is expanding its services for families in central Indiana, delivering essential grocery bundles curbside within 30 minutes. Customers will now be able to shop from a list of six grocery bundles which include pre-selected items such as protein, bread, milk and fresh produce, among others. Read more

Collective Alternative, an advertising and marketing agency that specializes in small and medium-sized businesses is providing free help to companies facing tough times due to the pandemic through a weekly live webinar. Read more

Delphi-based Hometown Shirts and Graphix, which temporarily closed its doors following Gov. Holcomb’s Stay-at-Home Order, is shifting gears to make plastic clips holding face masks’ elastic straps at the back of users' heads, rather than around the ears, to address irritation caused by the elastic straps. Read more

Cosmetic start-up company, garb2ART Cosmetics, has pivoted production from lip gloss to hand sanitizer. Read more

Bremen-based Horse Saddle Shop has suspended producing its EZ Saddle Fit Tool to focus on 3D printing face shields for the medical community. The company has dedicated three larger 3D printers to producing face shield parts on a full-time basis. Read more

Scholars Inn Bakehouse, a Bloomington-based artisan bread maker, has ramped up its production by more than 400% over the past two weeks to help keep the local Kroger replenish its shelves. Read more

To support the local restaurants that had to close dine-in areas, Signarama Evansville donated hundreds of signs restaurants could display to let their customers know if they had curbside or drive-thru options. Read more

SPORTS

IndyCar teams are doing their part to help workers on COVID-19 front lines. Andretti Autosport is using Stratasys, a 3-D printer, to make more than 120,000 masks for first responders to use during the COVID-19 crisis. Chip Ganassi Racing is making masks and are also fabricating intubation hoods to keep doctors and nurses safe at IU Health. Read more

IndyCar factory, Dallara USA, is switching gears and using its manufacturing equipment to cut the pieces necessary for several hundred – or even thousands – of medical gowns, which will then be taken to Indianapolis-based StitchWorks to be sewn together. Read more

TECHNOLOGY

Anvl, a Fishers-based workforce-first safety software company, is offering free trials for its application and COVID-19 templates to assist companies with preventative measures and data capture. Read more

Purdue University-affiliated solar company, Emergent Solar Energy, is working to help farms cut down on expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, headquartered at the Purdue Research Park and a client of the Hoosier Heartland ISBDC, has installed a ground-mounted solar array on a Tipton County farm to help reduce its carbon footprint and energy costs. Read more

Genesys launched a Rapid Response offer that includes up to 90 days of free access to its platform. Companies using it can launch a secure, cloud-based contact center that lets workers from physical call centers handle calls from home. Learn more about the platform here. Read more

Indianapolis-based healthcare tech company, hc1, has launched the CV19 Lab Testing Dashboard, a tool designed to create a faster response to the coronavirus. The dashboard will bring together data from a coalition of more than 20,000 lab testing locations that could be used to determine trends in testing to better prepare healthcare providers for an incoming wave of COVID-19 patients. The company is providing the dashboard for free to those directly involved with implementing policies and delivering care to mitigate the spread of the disease. Read more

The Halo App, local peer lending company and Central Indiana SBDC client, is partnering with the Indy Chamber to help financially-strained small business owners keep employees and customers safe while reopening. The partnership allows for short-term loans up to $1,000 for personal protective equipment and other necessary improvements. Read more

The Indiana Health Information Exchange is using health data to predict and prevent further COVID-19 outbreak in coordination with the Indiana State Department of Health, Regenstrief Institute and healthcare providers. ISDH’s real-time updates of COVID-19 testing results are made possible through the correct testing, coding and data processing of critical information at the time of care, and through connecting labs with electronic health information exchange. Read more

Passageways, an Indianapolis-based SaaS provider of collaboration solutions for boards and employees, is helping frontline organizations govern and respond to COVID-19. The company is providing free access to OnBoard virtual meeting management software to nonprofits from local, state and city government bodies through Aug. 31, 2020. Learn more

Evansville-based SafeKeeping Inc. is providing free software to all senior care facilities in the U.S. and Canada. With the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak isolating senior care residents from their families, SafeKeeping developed a new, free version to give senior care centers a family communication resource. Read more

Salesforce is donating $1 million to UCSF’s COVID-19 Response Fund and $500K to the CDC Foundation's Emergency Response Fund, and will continue matching employee contributions. Additionally, the company has technology available to help customers, partners, and communities. Salesforce will provide free access to technology for emergency response teams, call centers, and care management teams for health systems affected by coronavirus. Read more

Tech firm Selfless.ly is partnering with Serve Indiana — the state commission on volunteerism and service — to launch an initiative to identify a cadre of ready volunteers and match them with volunteer opportunities that can be accomplished while still social distancing and even staying at home. Selfless.ly is also opening its platform to not-for-profit and charitable organizations at no cost. Read more

Columbus-native Sarah Wood has started a website service called Supply Connector to connect those who can supply materials and manufacture finished goods with those who need them most. The directory was built to connect manufacturers, suppliers and health care professionals directly with what they need during the COVID-19 crisis. Read more

Carmel-based Zotec Partners (Zotec) announced a first-of-its-kind technology that will deliver an efficient, automated process to patients impacted by COVID-19. A new partnership with ISDH will allow ISDH to facilitate COVID-19 testing throughout Indiana. Zotec’s technology enables patients to access and answer COVID-19 testing questions, use their mobile devices to schedule and register for COVID-19 appointments with GPS location assistance, confirm demographic information, and receive text updates. Read more

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

NEXVOO®, a global innovation leader in unified communications products, is assisting with the U.S. and global pandemic by shifting resources to help with shipping FDA Certified N95 mask supplies into the U.S. Read more