Rochester-based digital printing business Wallace Print Limited has secured £250,000 of funding from Barclays through the Government backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) in order to support their business and staff through the COVID-19 crisis.

Social impact creative consultancy, Fox & Hare, who have been delivering creative solutions to brands and charities throughout the COVID-19 crisis, today launch #ChallengeImpossible for CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading charity for young cancer patients, in support of their Player vs Cancer initiative aimed at streamers - a popular activity for children with cancer.

While the country’s frontline NHS staff and key workers remain centre stage during the coronavirus pandemic, supporting them, and the more vulnerable in our communities, is a quiet army led by some of the UK’s biggest sports institutions.

Minuteman Press International has launched a new initiative, Bounce Back UK, to help give back to businesses in local communities that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative is available right now, free to business owners.

Agfa has announced Studio 4D48, a six-day virtual event featuring sessions to support printing companies worldwide through the current business challenges and help them plan for the future. The event will run from 18 to 26 June, coinciding with the original drupa time frame.

There has been an explosion in the use of Floor Graphics to get across key Covid-19 Social Distancing and Health & Safety messages to staff, visitors and clients. The use of floor space as a key message point provides a very obvious visual reference point for information & reminders.

Ocean has pledged its support for Stilton® by providing the Stilton Cheese Makers Association (SCMA), which represents the UK’s Stilton producers, with more than 20 high profile sites around the country for two weeks from June 1.

Many manufacturing companies have decided to convert production to contribute to addressing the COVID-19 crisis. In the textile sector in particular, print service providers have started producing masks and other kinds of facial protection, due to the sudden surge in demand and limited supply.

Megapixel is a printing service specialist that caters to both indoor and outdoor structures from high-end displays to wall/glass murals, LED signage, and customized POS fabrication among many others. Established in 2016, the company not only provides the latest printing technology, with a fleet of 7 HP Latex machines, but they also strive to make a difference by providing high-quality prints with fast turnaround time for their clients.

STIK has unveiled a new artwork entitled We Are Together on London’s iconic 783 square metre Piccadilly Lights as part of Young Westminster Foundation’s (YWF)’s new flagship campaign to support young people during the coronavirus.

User-generated messages of love and unity are being displayed on digital out-of-home (DOOH) screens worldwide with social media amplification ensuring the messages are seen by millions – at home.

Mondi, global leader in packaging and paper, is set to build new production lines in its plant in Gronau, Germany, to produce melt blown nonwoven fabric and surgical face masks. This is part of Mondi's efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and respond to increased demand by health authorities, businesses and consumers for face masks.

The organizer of Gulf Print & Pack 2021, Tarsus Group, has today confirmed new dates for the show, taking place in Dubai, as a result of the ongoing coronavirus/COVID-19 situation.

Alex Liggett went full-time with his business The Vinyl Guys just last summer but has quickly refocused to meet the changing demands of the past few weeks.

Coupling a budget-priced desktop printer with a small-format digital cutter and specialist heat transfer media supplied by Graphtec GB has provided a genuinely low-cost print and cut solution for the decoration and/or commercial branding of face masks and associated safety equipment employed in the fight against the current coronavirus pandemic. Available at an enticingly low price point of around £350, the Silhouette range of cutters has long been a preferred entry-level option for small start-up companies, many of which have been engaging with the PPE-related initiative whilst contemporaneously introducing a vital source of revenue during the current difficult business climate.

Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE: 6724, “Epson”) will apply its original Dry Fibre technology to manufacture face masks for its employees in Japan. Dry Fibre technology, which is also used in Epson’s PaperLab A-8000 in-office dry paper making system, is a dry process that has until now been used to turn used paper into new paper inside the office. The masks will be made not from used paper, but from functional fibres and will be manufactured at the company’s Kanbayashi and Suwa Minami Plants in Nagano, Japan, where the majority of its domestic employees are located. Epson expects to begin manufacturing the masks from the end of May. The company does not currently plan to manufacture the masks for sale.

This latest product from Graphic Image Films gives additional protection to any finished job. The film is extruded with a specially developed additive to give it an anti-bacterial property. This remains within the material for the lifetime of the film. Contrary to other products on the market, which are predominately coatings, this film for paper lamination is impregnated with this special capability. The critical advantage of which is that the anti-bacterial properties do not reduce or wear out over time.

Foticos is a Spanish company that has been operating in the photographic and printing sector since 1984. Today they are a staple in everything related to personalized products and gifts, from blankets to t-shirts or puzzles among many others.

In just two short weeks, Canon Solutions America, Inc.’s customer, Hatch Exhibits, went from operating as a full-service exhibit production shop in Maryland to a producer of protective face shields, disposable gowns, and touchless doorknobs to help those in their community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to Canon’s Colorado 1650, the MultiCam Celero 7, a Colex 10’ x 5’ Sharpcut, and Canon Solutions America’s support in sourcing other necessary materials, Hatch Exhibits has been able to quickly manufacture this gear to help create a safe workspace for its staff to continue with essential projects.

Premium digital out of home media owner Ocean Outdoor has launched the Crucial Creative Competition, a £1million prize fund to help galvanise advertisers and agencies to action as the COVID-19 crisis begins to ease.

Printing operations looking to create their new normal following the landscape changing impact of the global pandemic will be given a helping hand with a Ricoh Business Booster programme on Inkish TV.