DAILY BRIEF: Supplies and innovation during the pandemic, e-sports, security and music creation

Finnish airline Finnair is continuing its air cargo operations during the COVID-19 outbreak. This week, Finnair will fly over 10 return flights to Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, Shanghai and Guangzhou, carrying emergency supplies for Finland and Estonia, coronavirus samples from Finnish private healthcare provider Mehiläinen, and critical supplies from companies and organisations, as well as normal cargo, such as fresh fish. All the cargo flights are operated using Finnair’s A350s, with two of the cabins converted for cargo use to increase capacity.

Finnish energy company Fortum has developed a hands-free door handle made from recycled plastic that will be piloted with Finland’s largest retailer, S Group. The Fortum Vipu innovation enables people to open doors with their arms instead of hands to help them to keep good hand hygiene during the pandemic. The handle is made from recycled raw material produced from consumer plastic packaging waste. It will be trialled for a few weeks and then go to production if all goes to plan.

Telia is teaming up with American gaming company Riot Games and the world’s largest gaming lifestyle festival, Dreamhack, to establish the League of Legends Nordics regional e-sports competition. The collaboration will set up national League of Legends competitions in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark through the Telia Esports Series ecosystem, with the first games to be played in June 2020. The best teams will advance in stages all the way to the European Masters. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game and the most watched e-sport in the world.

Finnish developer of chemical threat detectors Karsa has set up a subsidiary in Germany. The company’s innovative chemical ionisation mass spectrometry technology was originally developed for climate change research but is currently being used for the detection of explosives in air cargo. Karsa has already secured a new client in Germany, where it will target operators in academia, military, law enforcement and the broader homeland security market.     

Finnish loudspeaker brand Genelec has launched G SongLab, an online initiative enabling young people to learn songwriting and music creation at home. Aimed at songwriters aged between 13 and 29 years, the initiative was developed by songwriters and music educators and launched in collaboration with the City of Helsinki and other local operators. Genelec will participate in the education by teaching some of the basics of sound and audio monitoring. To celebrate the launch, it will stage a songwriting challenge, with the three most innovative entrants rewarded handsomely and given the chance to perform live at the Genelec Artist Room.