Microsoft Pledges $55 Million in Support of COVID-19 Relief

Microsoft has announced commitments totaling $55 million in support of frontline research organizations and nonprofits working to address the spread and impacts of COVID-19. The commitments include $20 million from Microsoft Philanthropies to shift the company's AI for Health initiative to COVID-19, with a focus on data and insights, treatment and diagnostics, recommendations with respect to the allocation of resources, the dissemination of accurate information, and COVID-related research. Partnerships under the initiative include the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, a public-private effort spearheaded by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for which Microsoft is providing access to computing resources that can accelerate the pace of scientific discovery; the Washington State Department of Health, which is working on a new dashboard that relies on real-time data reported by local health jurisdictions, healthcare facilities, and labs; and Folding@home, a global organization that uses distributed computing to research COVID-19 proteins that could help in the design of therapeutics.