The crisis is boosting innovation...

...with the emergence of brand new ideas...

mRNA vaccine, a new technology

...and with the application of existing ones...

...in surprising new ways

The crisis has caused an acceleration in adoption of technologies

This is pushing the world further into the future...

We've had to build more aeroplanes than we ever have before

...often at breakneck speed

We've just closed £250m

Businesses are being forced to adapt...

Hello

Thank you, amazing

...or face extinction

Another hammer-blow to Britain's retail sector

This upsurge in innovation will bring lasting change…

…for good…

…and bad

Could you get into your computer?

No

This is my kids' future

So what lessons can be learned…

…as the world looks towards the post-pandemic era?

There is an opportunity for innovation…

…to stay at the cutting edge

I haven't seen this

Is this a new piece?

What is this part?

It's the front of the fuse

Got it

This is the headquarters of Zipline…

…a drone-manufacturing company

Is this 3D printed?

Yeah

Oh this is plastic now, yeah

Yeah, totally

Since the pandemic…

…the business has really taken off

Drone technology has been around for a while…

…but during the pandemic…

…it's starting to realise its considerable potential

With social distancing the new normal…

…health systems around the world…

…are now looking at drones…

…as a new and better way to deliver products…

…such as blood, cancer treatments and vaccines

Every hospital system and health system on Earth…

…is suddenly trying to reconfigure itself to a new reality…

…to extend the reach of the hospital system…

…directly into the home…

…enabling care closer to where patients live…

…so they have to travel less

It's more convenient…

…and the patient takes less risk of getting infected…

…if they need to access general care

From mid-June to September 2020…

…Zipline delivered more than 100,000 medical products…

…as many as over the previous three years

We've done a few things...

...a set of wing covers there now

When did that change?

Weeks ago

Perhaps the most significant change…

...has come in countries with strict airspace laws

In May 2020, an emergency licence was issued in America…

…allowing Zipline to fly long-range delivery drones…

…through controlled airspace for the first time

And in December, American regulators issued new rules…

…allowing drones to fly over people, and at night

This looser approach is accelerating the shift…

…towards more states receiving medical supplies…

…in a more efficient and productive way

So we're seeing hospital systems…

…that previously thought they had ten years…

…to effect this kind of change…

...now trying to do this in one year

Although drone-filled skies are some way off…

…covid-19 has also accelerated the conversation…

…around the use of drones beyond health care…

…in a variety of new fields

So I'll pop this…

…I'll pop this out

Zipline has partnered with retail giant Walmart

It's one of a number of companies…

…due to begin trial deliveries of consumer products

I think it's been really easy for people to understand the value…

…and there's a pretty intense sense of civic pride…

…around the country leading the way…

…in terms of showing how this new technology can save lives

This kind of rapid adoption of emerging technologies...

...has been called “tech-celeration”...

...and it's the type of innovation...

...that has been given the biggest boost...

...around the world by the pandemic

A classic example of tech-celeration…

…was what happened in the National Health Service in England…

…where a system to make possible video-calling…

…was effectively built over a weekend…

…and then rolled out to doctors across the country

Tech-celeration is pushing companies further and faster…

…into the future

Exactly how many years into the future we've been pushed…

…by this crisis varies

It depends on the behaviour, it depends on the country…

…but it does seem to be, sort of, of the order of five years

So welcome to 2025

History shows that innovation often thrives during times of crisis

Take the financial crash of 2008…

…which led to the widespread adoption of cloud computing

The cloud had been around since the early 2000s…

…but it gained a new footing…

…as the economic slowdown took hold

Companies were very often reluctant to try cloud computing

They thought it wasn't secure

And then they gave it a try…

…found it was cheaper, found it was more secure

And cloud computing has expanded very rapidly

As well as accelerating the adoption of developing technologies…

…crises can also foster the development of entirely new ideas

A good example of a crisis that led to lots of invention…

…would be the second world war

So you get the first digital computers…

…which are used for code-breaking…

…you get the first jet engines…

…that paves the way for mass air travel…

…you get nuclear technology, which is used for weapons…

…but can also be used to generate energy

And you also get the first rockets

When it comes to new ideas…

…covid-19 has left its mark in the field of medicine…

…where researchers around the world…

…have pioneered new techniques…

…in the development of vaccines

This phenomenal work has been done

Multiple teams producing vaccines in months rather than years…

…using entirely new technologies in some cases

So these mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine…

…and they seem to work extremely well

So that's very impressive example of invention

We are collectively telling cafés, pubs, bars and restaurants to close

In most industries, the pandemic has boosted innovation…

…by forcing companies to adopt new ways of doing things…

…purely as a matter of survival

We have innovated for necessity

Even for Michelin-star restaurant owner, David Moore

Lockdown forced him to place 90% of his staff on furlough…

…an emergency government scheme…

…that pays the wages of workers

For the business, it meant we had no income

I had thought that maybe…

…we wouldn't be able to get back to doing what we did before

So, to save his business...

...David adopted something once unthinkable...

...in the rarefied world of fine dining...

...a takeaway

The restaurant turned this...

...into this...

Thank you, amazing

...a heat-at-home Michelin-star ready-meal

Now the restaurant's Vegan Box has proven so popular…

…it has been rolled out nationwide

I definitely see online…

…as something that's staying with us

It's totally invigorated the business

Billy that's the samphire

As businesses throughout the hospitality industry…

…have been forced to adapt…

…the pandemic has fuelled the rapid growth…

…of the meal-delivery industry

Globally, the total revenue of this industry…

…is now expected to reach $182bn by 2024…

…an increase of more than a third from the projected level in 2020

When the pandemic recedes...

...the innovative mindset many businesses...

...have been forced to embrace, looks set to linger

For David, the unexpected success of his food-delivery service…

…points to a hybrid model for the future…

…one that will allow his chefs…

…to continue to innovate in the kitchen

Home delivery is not gonna finish fine dining

Fine dining is here to stay

People want to be looked after…

…they want crisp linen…

…they want the waiters looking after them…

…and they want no washing up afterwards

But while the pandemic has made innovation…

…a necessity for some companies…

…it has also restricted opportunities for others

Amidst the huge economic downturn…

…companies have been consolidating

The third quarter of 2020…

…was the busiest for mergers and acquisitions in three decades…

…a trend that is likely to tilt resources…

…for new thinking and new ideas…

…further towards big companies

By and large big companies can continue to invest...

...in difficult times

They can continue to take market share...

...in a way that small companies can't...

...and so generally this is leading...

...to sort of greater inequality between companies

It's a sort of big-gets-bigger phenomenon

There are parts of America you can only scout...

...if you come in here

Your international Harvester dealer showroom

History also suggests...

...that successful companies tend to start life...

...more often in the good times than the bad

Of the biggest American firms founded since 1970...

...more than 80% were born during eras of growth

During economic downturns life can be much harder for startups...

...which are so often the engines of innovation

But back in the booming world of online food delivery...

...some startups have found hungry investors

So we just closed £250m

We just closed £250m

Sisters Gini and Eccie Newton run Karma Kitchen

It's a startup that offers flexible kitchen space...

...known as ghost kitchens...

...to cooks and restaurants catering mainly to the delivery market

While some ghost kitchens are owned by a single-restaurant chain...

...Karma Kitchen has many different companies...

...hot-stationing under one roof

Producing everything from west African donuts...

...to tandoori curries

The company was founded two years ago...

...and the pandemic has transformed its fortunes

What would have taken us potentially three years to achieve...

...has now taken eight months in terms of market demand

The startup has recently opened its second ghost kitchen in London...

...and it has another five sites under construction

It plans to build many more ghost kitchens in residential...

...and office hotspots across Europe

We want to open 60 kitchen facilities

That starts for us with the funding

The ambition of fast-growing startups like Karma Kitchen...

...can attract investors

But it can also end with the startup selling itself...

...to a larger company with deeper pockets

And that brings its own risks

You see from research on mergers and acquisitions...

...when an acquisition happens...

...the innovativeness of that small firm typically goes down

The question really is whether large conglomerates...

...will be able to fuel these startups...

...in order for them to carry the front in terms of innovation...

...and for that innovation to then be...

...disseminated into the rest of the organisation

For many large and small companies...

...working from home has been the most significant innovation...

...to come out of the pandemic

In 2020 covid-19 turned a little-known tech firm...

...into one of the success stories of the pandemic

At the start of the year...