Our second COVID-19 open call for research run over the summer of 2021 aimed to gather the next generation of innovations and interventions from universities continuing to address the ongoing pandemic and the changing nature of the virus. In this article, we’ve gathered the top COVID-19 innovations in biotechnology and pharmacology, from novel diagnostics to new therapeutics, that were submitted to the call from universities and research institutes around the world. For further reading, you can view the full list of COVID-19 innovations submitted to the call in our open research directory.