We’re excited to announce that Cosmic has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2020 Tech South West Awards! The annual awards recognise and celebrate the sector’s incredible innovation, talent, creativity, entrepreneurship, business success, education, leadership and diversity. This year, Cosmic has been shortlisted for two awards: The Hero Award and the Teach Tech Award.
A very special award for 2020, the Hero Award recognises the incredible innovation shown, solutions developed and support given by the tech community in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Throughout February 2020, the news surrounding the spread of coronavirus around the World did not escape the ears of the Cosmic team. By March, the rhetoric of impending lockdown and social-distancing increased.
As a Social Enterprise, we are motivated to make a change and to deliver a positive outcome for the lives of others. Our vision is to inspire people to achieve success in the digital world. With rumours of government advice to switch to home-working, Cosmic realised that it was uniquely positioned to help our business community. Over the space of just 24 hours, we developed a new package of support to be delivered to anyone who needed it… totally for FREE! On the 12th of March (11 days before Lockdown) we launched the Remote Working Advice Line.
The helpline provided guidance and advice on the types of hardware, gadgets, software, policies and business processes that can be adopted to enable teams to work remotely from home during periods of isolation. Many businesses rely on face-to-face interaction between staff, customers and suppliers. Cosmic's advice helped people to adapt to new working conditions that might occur as a result of government enforced self-isolation.
Along with this, our team of trainers delivered over 100 virtual workshops to 1500 small businesses and charities in the South West during the main lockdown period. The response so far has been astonishing, and Cosmic are incredibly proud to have been an asset to the South West community. We are very proud to have been shortlisted for this award!
Cosmic’s Simon Goode, a Digital Skill Advisor for the Positive People Project, was shortlisted for the Teach Tech Awards. In his day to day life Simon focuses on developing the skill and knowledge level of the participants on the project. However, the thing that makes Simon unique in the work we do is the fact he can communicate through Sign Language. Simon is passionate about how we can use technology to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.
An example of his passion to include everyone was very evident as the country was plunged into Lockdown. He created and set up a “digital support café” through Facebook, for people who could communicate through sign language. This allowed people to link in with the technical support and welfare support even if they were unable to hear the information.
Simon demonstrates how technology can be a lifeline and key to success for people, and disability is no barrier when you have right resources and training available. Cosmic are very proud to have Simon on their team.
The winners will be announced during the first ever digital Tech South West Awards ceremony streamed live via online event platform Hop In on Thursday 26th November 2020. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for success, but are delighted to have got this far!