Throughout the pandemic, GBA members have utilized their expertise, resources and dedicated employees to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What’s amazing about Ericsson’s story is how they mobilized their highly-skilled workforce to share their technical expertise in deep learning to help researchers better understand this disease,” said Nancy McLernon, president and CEO of the Global Business Alliance.

At the onset of the pandemic in the U.S., more than 350 Ericsson employees came together virtually as a volunteer team, leveraging automation and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to create tools to accurately utilize the ever-growing set of academic papers published on the COVID-19 virus.

In just 27 days, the team completed and submitted a solution for all nine tasks included within the federal government’s COVID-19 Open Research Dataset Challenge (CORD-19), which aimed to develop AI tools to help the medical research community address urgent questions posed by the pandemic.

“Ericsson employees have always been eager to jump in and help, leveraging our technology for good. It’s truly part of our culture where our employees embrace the responsibility to give back through selfless volunteering,” said Niklas Heuveldop, President and Head of Ericsson North America.

 “This was a very different challenge and a true testament to the resourcefulness and dedication of our team across the world, mobilizing quickly to help contribute to a solution for this global pandemic. Thank you, Global Business Alliance, for supporting international companies in the United States, and recognizing Ericsson for this award.”

Ericsson’s effort produced significant results in the form of research tools that enable medical professionals, public health officials and other leaders to synthesize the increasing volume of medical research on COVID-19 and related viruses that now consists of over 200,000 articles.

The Awards, which were presented by GBA in a virtual event streamed earlier, showcase the significant contributions that international companies make to local U.S. communities.

 Many international companies offer their employees the opportunity to volunteer and help direct the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts.