Designers, universities, events and brands with products to launch are taking their activities online as coronavirus forces the sector to consider replacing real-world interactions with virtual alternatives.
The move has been most dramatic in the education sector, with many schools sending all pupils home.
Schools switch to digital learning
Italy's Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), Austria's University of Innsbruck and dozens of US institutions including Harvard University, Stanford University and Columbia University are suspending in-person lessons and switching to digital learning materials and lectures.
"The University of Innsbruck is closed for teaching from tomorrow on," said the head of the school's architectural history department Bart Lootsma. "We switch to digital learning." The IED announced it was replacing lessons at its seven locations in Italy with a "smart school". This features "streamed lessons, online tutoring, video hangouts and digital materials to tackle the closure of schools".
"Knowing how to transform a difficulty into an opportunity, even when leaving one's comfort zone, is a necessary talent for any designer of today and tomorrow," said IED academic director Riccardo Balbo.

Harvard gave all students just five days to move out of their dorms and instructed them not to return after Spring Break.
"We will begin transitioning to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes," sai...