An employee at Detroit’s Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center  sews critical personal protective equipment.

With COVID-19, we are facing one of the most disruptive global events in recent memory. The need for improved health – capacity, infrastructure, and systems – has never been greater. And the need for resilience – personal, economic, and societal –is paramount. At Autodesk, our priority remains the health and well-being of our employees, customers, and partners and through Autodesk Foundation, we are working to deploy capital and assistance where it’s needed most.

With COVID-19, the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center in Detroit made the decision to pivot to production of isolation gowns and masks.

To date, we’ve committed $2 million to support the health and resilience of our employees, communities, and customers – and we are continuing to explore new ways we can help. Efforts include:  

Employees 

• As a result of an expanded matching program, employees committed nearly $1.5 million to global causes in one month. This is a testament to the generosity and selflessness of our employees during this time of crisis. 
• Many employees are actively volunteering and fundraising, and pro bono project workstreams  focused on  COVID-19  have been established, leveraging the expertise of our employees. 

Communities 

• Autodesk joined a consortium of 25 companies who committed $22 million in funding to global, national, and local Bay Area COVID-19 response through the United Nations Foundation (for the World Health Organization’s Strategic Response Fund), The Centers for Disease Control Foundation, and the  Silicon Valley Community Foundation, donating $600,000 to these efforts. These organizations are actively engaged in the global health response, and building the local economic resilience of vulnerable populations, nonprofits, and small businesses impacted by the virus.  
• To have the most meaningful impact in communities around the world, we are amplifying local giving through  $200,000 in employee–directed philanthropy in countries where we have the largest number of employees outside the Americas.  

Simprints collects patient data using an updated contactless mode for its patient ID system in Kenya. Accelerated development could see it ready for partners to use in response to COVID-19 in the coming months.

Customers

• We are working collaboratively with our customers to ensure the entrepreneurs and innovators in our portfolio can withstand the negative impacts of COVID-19. Small businesses and startups have been disproportionally affected by the crisis. We continue to deliver funding, employee pro bono resources, and software donations to support our partners during this difficult time.    
• Autodesk Foundation  has committed to  deploying $300,000  in grants to  partner organizations, including the UK’s Simprints and Detroit’s Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, who are pivoting to rapidly deliver  vaccine tracing technologies and sew critical personal protective equipment.  
• Autodesk employees are also helping Simprints via pro bono consulting. One team of developers is assisting this innovative global nonprofit with integration of  their contactless biometric data with a  database to track  COVID-19 virus cases.

Looking out over the horizon, business, governments, and society will emerge to a very different world from our pre-COVID-19 existence. My hope is that, together, we can leverage the decisions we are making in this crisis to adapt in ways that will create a healthier and more resilient workforce and community – and ultimately create a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous society, long into the future.