Each week, we scour the worlds of innovation, tech for good and social impact to bring you seven of our top stories of the week…

1. As reported by BBC News, the UK government announced that around 1.3 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine by the end of the first week of 2021.
2. With signs that the UK’s renowned fintech sector is falling behind, the Telegraph investigates the largest fintech hub in the Middle East, Bahrain, and its potential to gain an edge over London, the fintech capital of Europe.
3. Business Green reports some exciting environmental news from Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket, which announced the removal of one billion pieces of plastic from its shelves in 2020.
4. Seven landed an op-ed in The Independent, by Supritha Rao, the teacher who led the winning team of last year’s Longitude Explorer Prize. Supritha shares her perspective on the strange events of the first term back at school, with all its pressures and challenges, and details her experience of the prize and the inspiration she has gained from her students.
5. A new report indicates that while Brits are the biggest users of tech in Europe, they crave more digital ways to manage their money, with 60% eager to see the growth of fintech, reveals Finextra.
6. At a time where the threat posed by viruses is more apparent than ever, Wired examines three innovative propositions for stopping the next pandemic.
7. Hoping to tackle the space junk problem, researchers at Kyoto University, Japan, are designing the world’s first Earth-orbiting wooden satellite!