To address the challenges of bringing COVID-19 solutions into clinical practice quickly, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) convened an international COVID-19 forum. In the group, 29 scientific researchers and innovators, industry leaders, clinical experts, and policy makers from the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific provided a comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspective on the pandemic crisis. Their major recommendations are now published in the IEEE Journal of Biomedical Health Informatics.