At the 💙 of the creation and co-edition of Coorpacademy’s premium catalogue, our instructional designers are passionate about sharing their favorite courses with us.
December
Did you know? The more an organisation values interaction and encourages informal learning, the more teams develop a collaborative, solution-oriented approach to their daily work.
This month, the pedagogical team had a crush on the Peer-to-Peer Coaching course co-edited with Sia Partners, which is essential for setting up a learning organisation.
A course to discover how the layout of the workspace and good managerial attitudes can be real incentives to obtain the desired behaviour from your employees!
October
This month, our educational team had a crush on the course on Cybersecurity co-published with Video Arts.
Discover in video why the subject is particularly important to them 💙
September
The favorite of the month is the course “Understanding the ecological crisis” co-published with the Collège des Directeurs du Développement Durable (C3D). This course is essential to understand the mechanisms behind the ecological crisis, their interactions and their consequences.
August
This month, our educational team had a crush on the 2 new Trivial Pursuit quizzes on digital and the environment, to learn while having fun!
Discover in video why the subject is particularly important to them 💙
In this month of June, the pedagogical team loved the course “Strategic Foresight” co-edited with Usbek & Rica. This course will allow you to learn how to apprehend tomorrow by studying possible futures, in order to orient your company’s strategy in an uncertain world.
This month, the team recommends the “Take a fresh look at your management style“ course co-edited with Olivier Sibony, in which you will discover a series of concrete illustrations of common mistakes that (almost) all of us make, in areas as varied as recruiting or financial projections.
This month they have just fallen for the “Learning to Learn“ course co-edited with Learn Assembly, because the subject is particularly close to their 💙, obviously!
Understand in 4 minutes why telling stories and taking the role of an investigator is an original but very effective and legal way to learn soft skills!
We interviewed Laurence Mijoin-Duroche, in charge of pedagogical innovations at Coorpacademy and co-creator of an interactive fiction series to train in soft skills online.
A detective series in 3 episodes: SUSPECTS
Suspect interrogations are increasingly using behavioral science and proving to be an effective means in terms of storytelling and pedagogy to develop soft skills, including emotional intelligence, active listening, persuasion, negotiation. Better communication and better stress management are the learning objectives of the Suspects series in 3 episodes, the first interactive series 100% fiction and 100% training!
Exclusively on all Coorpacademy online training platforms
Storytelling enables us to create different characters and profiles and to have a wide diversity of behaviors, and therefore soft skills. Fiction also generates emotions that facilitate the anchoring of knowledge.
What do learners think of this new format?/h3>
Within a sample of 300 learners, 99.4% of them would like another series of this type, with an interactive narrative where they have to make their own choices.
Eye to eye, in all honesty, and frankly, arguing…it’s quite an art! Not yet convinced?
That’s normal, because before trying to convince anyone, it’s better to understand how a reasoning is built to get your ideas across, or to refute those that are presented to you. Some people still bite their fingers off…
Based on logic, the latest course by Luc de Brabandere and Anne Mikolajczak is designed to help you work on your own arguments, but also to identify the flaws in your interlocutor’s arguments in order to better counter them.
Luc de Brabandere and Anne Mikolajczak have been working together for over 35 years. With very different backgrounds, one an engineer, a business philosopher and now a Fellow at the Boston Consulting Group, the other a philologist, they have been running seminars together on creativity in business and introduction to philosophy. These experiences have inspired three courses at Coorpacademy: the first on cognitive biases, the second on creativity methods, and the latest, which has just been published, on the art of argumentation. Anne Mikolajczak answered our questions on this occasion to enlighten us on the importance of argumentation.
Q. What is an argument? Is it knowing how to reason, convince, or manipulate?
The Belgian philosopher, Chaïm Perelman, a world leader in this field, defines argumentation as “a discursive technique that makes it possible to provoke or increase an audience’s support for the theses being presented for its approval”.
In other words, arguing means reasoning and convincing.
The starting point for an argument is a disagreement between two different positions. It is an attempt by both parties to impose their point of view. There are two situations. In the first, the argument is solid: the concepts used are clear and useful, the premises are true and the logical structure is correct. In the second, the point of the argument is to trap the person, and it is deliberately fabricated, manipulated and distorted. The malicious speaker can play on words, articulate false premises and use logic structures that give the appearance of valid reasoning or use arguments that have nothing to do with reasoning, such as ad hominem attacks for example.
Q. Why offer this course on a professional digital learning platform? Or more precisely, how is argumentation a skill that needs to be developed in a company in 2021?
Both in business and outside of it, no matter how good our ideas and judgements are, one day our ideas will be confronted by people with different ideas. We will then need to be able to communicate well and also be able to listen, explain ourselves and understand the other person’s point of view.
And sometimes we have to contend with someone acting in bad faith.
What can logic still be used for when faced with a person who is willing to do anything to have the last word?
With the Internet, sophists now have a massive weapon of persuasion, and we need to further develop our ability to argue and decode the arguments of others.
Q. Can you be a “victim” of an argument? Are there ways to defend oneself against arguments?
You can of course fall victim to arguments when they have been deliberately distorted to distract you or mislead you.
So, how can we position ourselves, defend ourselves and react to false arguments? Aside from maybe lawyers or politicians, we are not professionals in debate or discourse. Systematic mistrust or the practice of irony are not second nature to us. The answer lies here: we must use “critical thinking” intensively. The goal is not to be certain but rather to uncover ploys and protect oneself from toxic ideas.
For example, there is a common fallacy called a false dilemma which often consists of presenting an alternative as the sole solution to a problem, while in reality there are many possible answers.
“If you are not with us, you are against us.”
No, we don’t have to be either with you or against you. We can disagree on some points while agreeing on others.
And why not take inspiration from Arthur Schopenhauer’s The Art of Always Being Right? In it, he describes 38 strategies to defend oneself against a person and even attack them.
Q. Do you have a recent story to tell us about the impact of the art of
arguing in a company context?
Companies’ success depends on their ability to convince their customers. They are helped to do so by advertising agencies. But sometimes they are faced with other types of people. Recently, Alstom and Siemens were denied the right to merge by the European Commission. Their arguments were therefore not sufficiently convincing.
Coorpacademy and lawpilots have co-created two courses to provide the best possible education on legal issues for employees: one focuses on equal treatment of employees and the other on risks related to remote work.
Training employees online and in large numbers on legal issues is an increasingly sought-after challenge and one that does raise some questions. We posed some of them to Antoine Levollant, head of lawpilots in France, following the publication of their first two courses on the Coorpacademy platforms.
Q. First of all, what is lawpilots? What makes you a key player in online legal
education?
lawpilots, Coorpacademy’s first German partner, was established in Berlin in 2017 by a lawyer working in a law firm specialised in new technologie law and a consultant with expertise in data protection. In the course of their numerous interactions with their clients, they noticed the growing need to raise their employees’ awareness of legal issues in compliance, whether it be around data protection, anti-corruption, information security or even safety at work.. Created by trainers, lawyers and consultants, lawpilots’ modules are designed to be engaging, interactive and fun while training effectively, and staying up to date with the latest European and national legislation.
Q. lawpilots was created shortly before the European GDPR was implemented in 2018. Are we done with the GDPR?
Let’s say that the GDPR is the first “legislative outline” of a long road to regain control of the personal data that is collected online.
This is basically the main objective of the regulation: to put an end to the processing and abuse of users’ data by companies and in particular by web giants such as Facebook or Google.
So, even if it is a very small start and for us, users, it has mostly resulted in a flood of emails and notifications about the use of cookies, the main idea of the GDPR is oh so important. And we can see that under the impulse of Europe, other states and regions have followed the example. California and Brazil, for example, have introduced their own legislation to protect the data of their citizens.
Q. What other major legal challenges have you identified for companies? What educational trends are you seeing within the context of the Covid crisis and with the continuation of digital development?
Definitely Cybersecurity. The democratisation of remote work in response to COVID-19 has simply caused an explosion in the number of cyber-attacks suffered by companies. Indeed, because of the networking of computer networks, hackers have seen the number of entry points and vulnerabilities multiply!
The important thing is not to point the finger at employees as the weakest link in the IT protection system, because mistakes are and will remain human, but to support them in these changes and transformations.
This is where awareness campaigns come into their own.
Another theme is increasingly requested by companies, that is the code of conduct. We live and work in an increasingly diverse world, whether in terms of gender, origin or culture, and the workplace must be a healthy environment where people can feel integrated, respected and safe. This requires a number of rules of good conduct and behaviour to be followed. Even if this often seems to be innate to everyone, it is essential that these rules are exposed and repeated to everyone.
Q. When it comes to legal issues, how can we train the employees of large companies whose cultures, nationalities and laws differ? How do you ensure that the course content is applicable to everyone?
In order for large companies to train all their entities, we, at lawpilots, have made our modules available in more than 15 languages with content adapted by country by localising examples, legal specificities or other details such as the places mentioned or the visuals!
Our objective remains to be accessible to as many people as possible, and our credo is to make it easy to understand. We try to have an accessible language, and to deconstruct the “technical” side of the legislations, in order to make them understandable by all. The main objective is that those who follow our courses, including those done with Coorpacademy, understand the logic of the laws, remember them and apply them in their daily work.
If learners have forgotten everything two weeks after obtaining their certificates, we have not fulfilled our mission!
Q. More specifically, how do you succeed in engaging employees on these subjects related to legal issues?
The challenge is therefore to make the training accessible and understandable to everyone, especially as the compulsory nature of training on legal topics often has a negative effect on participant motivation. The idea is to stimulate their attention, using concrete situations and practical examples, which can be encountered every day. And above all, taking the learner point of view and providing them with new knowledge is what we’re looking for in the end, so that the learner is able to say to himself or herself at the end of the course “Ah, but data protection isn’t as boring as all that!” Finally, there are learning techniques that help to capture learner attention, such as storytelling. For example, in our cyber security training, employees take on the role of a hacker who wants to steal confidential information from a company.
Within Coorpacademy’s digital learning framework, we worked on this and rebuilt full courses. While we are familiar with the flipped pedagogy that Coorpacademy uses (starting with questions), the concept of alternating questions and videos is completely new to us. Our collaboration went very well!
“It’s very useful to provide greater clarity on these concepts that we are familiar with but that are sometimes not so clear!” A Faurecia platform learner
We are happy with the initial feedback, and learner feedback has demonstrated that our approach is understood.
Before explaining how the score is built on the platform, a few reminders and definitions!
A course is usually made up of 3 levels: basic level, advanced level, coach level. Each level has an average of 3 chapters. Each chapter is composed of 1 lesson (video or PDF), and 4 questions.
How to earn the most stars by following a module?
The stars, which you earn and which constitute the score, are awarded as follows:
+4 stars for each question you answer correctly
+4 additional stars for each lesson consulted (video or PDF)
-1 star if you use the index while answering a question
How can I track my score?
You can check your score by clicking on the Star icon (green arrow).
To view your score on a particular playlist, simply select it from the drop-down menu (yellow arrow).
How do I replay a level to increase my score?
By replaying a level, you can increase your score, provided that it is better than the best score already achieved previously!
Examples:
1. I try again to improve my score, but I can’t do better because I use a hint: I don’t win any extra stars, but I don’t lose any either…
2. I try again and this time I have more correct answers, and I also watch the 3 videos (which I had not watched before). I then gain +12 extra stars plus the stars for the correct answers!
How do I move up in the ranking?
You have to play on all levels:
Take as many courses as possible, watch all the videos and answer all the questions correctly. Good luck!
Follow the 5’learning, the 5 minute modules linked to each course: each one can earn you +20 stars!
In general, follow all the course formats offered on the platform 🙂
Validate the certificates offered on the platform
Launch and answer as many battles as possible. A battle is a series of questions on a course level. The winner of the battle gets +1 star for each correct answer (on average there are 6 questions per battle).
More details on how the platform works? Do not hesitate to consult the dedicated FAQ.
The Coorpacademy Awards recognise the outstanding initiatives and successes of our clients in their digital learning projects. Last month, we had the pleasure of giving a Coorpacademy Award to Square Management, for the First Prize of Cooperation.
First Prize for Cooperation given to the digital learning platform Square Institute – Feb 2021
Throughout the virtual Forum of Babel escape game that we launched at the beginning of the year with our clients, Square Management digital learning platform was the one that showed the best collaborative spirit.
Here is an example of one of the comments made on the forum dedicated to the first of the four puzzles of the Babel Forum, and which reflects the spirit of cooperation and camaraderie during the game!
“Hello, I found the answer by classifying the caves in chronological order (Chauvet, Lascaux, Las Manos, Magoura) and by putting the letters corresponding to the associated clues. I can give other clues if needed.”
The Forum of Babel: an escape game for training
The Forum of Babel escape game is an exceptional learning format that aims to develop creativity and teamwork. How does it work? By making learners solve some pretty tough puzzles, linked to languages history over the centuries!
Congrats to all the Square Management learners who collectively made their platform win by cooperating very actively on the dedicated forums to get through all the Escape Game puzzles together, and congrats to the Training Centre, without whom none of this would have been possible!
Learning in the flow of work
Time is precious… To make up for its employees’ lack of time but allow them to learn in the workflow, Square Management decided to partner with Coorpacademy to launch a platform dedicated to soft skills within their organisation, with over hundreds of courses.
Launched more than a year ago, the Square Management platform continues to grow at the same pace! Learners come to the platform on average 3.1 times a month. This habit is well integrated into the daily life of employees: a quarter of learning is done on mobile, i.e. on the application version of the Square Institute platform.
Continuously engaging learners
Animations such as the Babel of Forum, but also the creation in 2021 of multiple thematic learning Pathway and the corresponding certificates, are contributing to the growth of the platform, with an unwavering enthusiasm in spring!
Square Institute platform boosted by animations and certificates
Coorpacademy has partnered with Bookboon, the world‘s leading publisher of ebooks and audio learning for professionals. A new way of consuming online content has recently taken off: podcasts. Audio content, avoiding the fatigue of the screen that has become omnipresent, is experiencing an unprecedented boom and its use is becoming part of everyone’s daily life. That’s why audio formats are now to be part of digital learning catalogues and offers!
Sylvia Koenig, Digital Learning Director at Bookboon, has answered our questions giving us more details about Bookboon and diving into audiolearning specifics and benefits!
Q. Can you give us a quick introduction to Bookboon Learning?
Bookboon Learning is often referred to by clients as “the Netflix of corporate learning”, which is due to our high focus on User Experience and Simplicity.
Bookboon Index
Our content focus is to develop highly relevant and easy to digest content on soft skills and personal efficiency. With our bite size eBooks and Audio Learning items, we provide focused learning experiences from 10 minutes to 1,5 hours. This is short enough to finish in a single sitting, while still delivering the amount of knowledge needed to fully develop a new skill.
With currently thousands of titles, we constantly update and expand our catalogue, so our learners can discover new exclusive content every week.
Q. How do you design your audio content and ebooks? What is the validation process and how do you recruit the experts?
We are a digital and AI driven learning company. When it comes to developing our content, Bookboon Learning operates similar to traditional publishing house with an experienced team of editors and a global network of renown authors. Our content is written and produced exclusively for Bookboon Learning. We breathe knowledge and understand ourselves as thought leaders guiding the industry.
The Bookboon Learning editorial team is well connected with experts across the world. They recruit authors by relevance and authority for a specific topic. There are also authors approaching us as they know our reputation and reach. All our authors are leading experts in their fields, like e.g., Nick Van Damm, the former CLO of McKinsey. He writes for example on the future of Learning & Development or on How to stay relevant in the job market.
Each editor works closely with the author for the best result – from a learning impact and a design perspective. Everything needs to be short and precise to the point: Read or listen today, use it tomorrow.
Q. What makes audio learning an effective learning tool?
From our personal experiences and the feedback from our clients, Audio is filling a gap in existing learning mixes. Its offscreen format is flexible and liberating. Audio allows people learning on top of doing something else, even while walking the dog or driving a car. This makes it perfect for busy schedules – it just saves time.
Because of its informal aspects, audio doesn’t feel like learning. The motivation is higher compared to traditional learning tools.
Peoples’ screen time has dramatically increased during lockdowns. They value a variation in learning formats with more flexibility for time and place of their learning sessions.
Another fact that is often overlooked:
More than 30% of the population are auditory learners, learning best through hearing. This is big group of people where audio can make a difference.
Audio learning checks many boxes of a contemporary and effective learning tool and should be part of every modern learning offer.
Top 3 Audiolearning Benefits (Bookboon)
Q. How does knowledge anchoring work with audio learning versus traditional learning?
Audio is perfect to grasp a concept in a short time. The learner gets the framework and recommendations. And is ready to use it immediately for his or her purpose. eBooks deliver more complex and detailed information in a digestible way. Reading is faster than listening, compensating the usually bigger scope of an eBook.
In terms of perception, science suggests that audio learning is comparable to reading. As a study from the researchers of Gallant Lab at UC Berkeley published in the Journal of Neuroscience concluded, it does not make a difference for the brain if the word is spoken or read. A study from the University of California by Matthew Traxler comes to a similar conclusion. You can choose the format that suits you best.
Q. What is your vision of the evolution of corporate training in the next 5 years?
The vision of Bookboon Learning for the future of learning is focused on simplicity. As the world continues to grow ever more complex, all our data points in the direction of even-further increasing simplicity.
There is a very interesting annual simplicity study by global brand strategy firm Siegel+Gale, defining simplicity as a strong driver for brand loyalty. Consumers prefer a seamless, simpler, and faster brand engagement, as this saves one very important thing: Time. From our experience, you can easily transfer these finding to learners. Instead of overwhelming them with complex experiences, simplicity of content and learning paths will always pay back in highly appreciated timely efficiency, leading to higher motivation and steady recurrence – both fundamental requirements of successful learning programs.
Q. What have you observed in the world of training during the Covid-19 crisis?
A year ago, there still where discussions about the relevance and impact of online learning.
Due to the worldwide COVID restrictions, digital learning is not just an option anymore, it’s a necessity now.
People had to dramatically adjust to new scenarios in a very short period. Remote Working, Virtual meetings, Working from Home, Homeschooling. All these new skills don’t come naturally, they must be learned, reflected, and adapted for the own personal situation. Digital learning can be done while life happens, while questions occur – it’s real time. It has proved its strengths and is the perfect companion to thriving these days.
As announced at the Digital Learning Club, our flagship client event, we are presenting trophies to our clients to recognise some of the most significant lifelong learning initiatives of 2020.
Congratulations to SQLI who won the “Bespoke content creation” Award with the greatest diversity of content designed in 2020, including a digital Escape Game to raise awareness of disability, an important course on project management for their project managers and 6 complete courses on practice management (scope, charges, costs, quality…), in French and in English
Now comes the “Top learner score” Award, the learner with the highest score on a Coorpacademy platform in 2020. And the learner with the highest score in 2020, Sorin Grapan, works at… Michelin !
Congratulations to Société Générale, which won the “Feature animation initiative” Award, with the highest rate of engagement achieved with a dedicated animation, the Massive Battle (all learners on the platform are challenged by a learner on a particular subject, the same for all).
Congratulations to BOBST who won the “Remote Working Initiative” Award with their “Remote Working” course which achieved the highest engagement rate on our platforms on telework issues.
Congratulations to Faurecia for its “Outstanding achievement award”: a remarkable milestone has indeed been reached, with more than 20 million questions answered by learners since the creation of the Learning Lab, Faurecia’s digital learning platform deployed by Coorpacademy!
Congratulations to UCB who won the “Mobile application engagement” award with the best engagement rate in 2020 on the Coorpacademy application, available on the App Store and Google Play.
The Babel Forum escape game is an exceptional learning format that aims to develop creativity and teamwork. How does it do this? By having learners solve some pretty tough puzzles, in this case linked to the history of languages through the centuries!
Congratulations to all the Square Management learners who collectively made their platform win by cooperating actively on the dedicated forums to solve all the puzzles together.
And a very special thank you for this project to Audrey Duvat, Riquier Louis, Aminata Camara, Michelle Juan !
The Coorpacademy Content Team is producing ‘Suspects’, its first fictional series in 3 episodes involving the use of soft skills.
After launching the digital Escape Game in 2019 in order for the learner to discover the platform’s features playfully, after having released several immersive courses where the learner dive into – almost – real-life situations to apply his/her newly acquired knowledge, the Content Team decided in 2020 to go a step further in the interactive storytelling process.
First, the fiction, second, the learning!
Laurence Mijoin-Duroche, learning manager at Coorpacademy, came up with the idea to reverse the usual course construction methodology. How so? You start from a fiction, a compelling story, and then you add to it pedagogical elements. In this new format – we haven’t seen anything like it yet in the world of corporate digital learning – knowledge and learning elements will be presented furtively, almost subliminally, to the learner/player/viewer. By making decisions that will impact the course of the story, learners will be actors in their own learning processes, without sometimes even knowing they’re actually learning something.
This new format production was launched during lockdown, but with a team full of motivation and scenarios ideas. This new pedagogical series will be a real fiction, illustrated with interactive videos, and the story will be told in 3 episodes where players will make their own choices and will learn from their decisions.
If you liked the movie Searching, or the TV shows Calls or Criminal, you will like Suspects by Coorpacademy.
The fiction being the starting point, the Content Team chose to draw inspiration from some crime movies and TV shows… Using the idea of a detective case and questioning witnesses as the context of Suspects!
Less is more!
Calls on Canal+
The TV show Calls on Canal+ rely on a quite simple concept: on the screen, you will only see written dialogues and you will only hear those dialogues. No images. With some light effects and the actors’ voices and interpretations, the stories – and the suspense – build up.
A direction relying on a succession of screens.
Searching
The movie Searching shows a father looking for his missing daughter… uniquely through the actions he does on his computer or his smartphone: mails, webcam, searching in files or looking for clues on the web… Everything is done through screens.
A detective duo with two different profiles.
Criminal on Netflix
In the TV show Criminal on Netflix, a detective, quite good at psychology, observe interrogations behind a one-way glass and advises an other detective, with quite different and rough methods…
Paris, 3rd February 2031, 29°C in the shade. Global warming is more topical than ever…
Naturally, the announcement of GreenDynamix was a bombshell: the research centre would have developed a revolutionary fuel. Virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions. A patent that would have been worth millions… But as soon as it was finalised, the formula was stolen and all project files erased. Three people are to be heard in the ongoing investigation. The case has been assigned to Detective Carl Sanchez, assisted by Alice Postel, an expert in behavioural analysis… Carl Sanchez is a young off-the-academy detective who just arrived in criminal police… And who needs to demonstrate its effectiveness! He won’t be alone though: Alice, behind her computer screen, will observe the interrogation room and advise Carl on how to lead the questioning. Using soft skills, of course…
Ok, this sounds cool… But what about the actual learning and upskilling in all that?
In each episode, only one suspect will be interrogated. Carl will gather important information for the case only if he leads the questioning correctly. If Alice – the learner/player – doesn’t give the right advice, the suspect won’t give critical information. Then, everyone (Alice, Carl and the learner) can follow the other courses on the platform to see how they got it wrong. Soft skills involved will be:
Negotiation and persuasion power
Problem-solving
Active listening
Critical thinking
Emotional intelligence
Conflict resolution
Who said it was easy to lead an interrogation? Anyway, the case won’t be solved until the end of the third and last episode, when all three suspects would have been interrogated. And this calls for quite a few binge learning sessions!
We are proud to have been selected amongst the 8 scale-ups in the EdTech & New Work category of the Kickstart Innovation program!
Since it was founded five years ago, Kickstart has become one of the largest European innovation platforms and has initiated over 120 pilots and commercial projects between startups, established organizations and companies from various sectors.
"From September to November, the startups will have the opportunity to co-create in the form of Proof-of-Concepts, pilots and commercial projects with Kickstart partners, leading organizations and companies such as AXA, Coop, Migros, Swisscom, Mobiliar, ETH Zürich, City of Zürich, PostFinance, Credit Suisse and others", says Katka Letzing, Co-Lead of Kickstart.
Discover the press release about the Kickstart program, how this innovation hub in Switzerland works and how Coorpacademy has been selected.
KICKSTART MEDIA RELEASE
INNOVATION HUB SWITZERLAND: 51 STARTUPS BRINGING SOLUTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
From digital personalized learning and gamified digital therapeutics to authentication enabled by facial recognition as well as reduction of cement usage through CO2 capturing as a Circular Economy solution, Antimicrobial LED light technology and real time reporting in FinTech and Insurtech, Kickstart is engaging on different levels to drive innovation activities in Switzerland. Over 50 high growth startups from 11 countries are participating this year.
Zurich, July 22, 2020 – Since it was founded five years ago, Kickstart has become one of the largest European innovation platforms and has initiated over 120 pilots and commercial projects between startups, established organizations and companies from various sectors. “Despite COVID-19, Kickstart has received high-quality applications from over 55 countries and overall there has been a significant increase of deeptech ventures with the appetite to scale in Switzerland,” explains Katka Letzing, Co-Lead of Kickstart. “From September to November, the startups will have the opportunity to co-create in the form of Proof-of-Concepts, pilots and commercial projects with Kickstart partners, leading organizations and companies such as AXA, Coop, Migros, Swisscom, Mobiliar, ETH Zürich, City of Zurich, PostFinance, Credit Suisse and others. This year Kickstart is excited to bring on new partners, including Mövenpick, New Work SE , Energie 360 °, Roche, Holcim Switzerland, Nespresso , Canton de Vaud and more. Startups will also have the opportunity to engage newly in the Romandy region next to Greater Zurich Area. Startups participating in the 2020 program combine a high level of technological innovation with solutions that are intended to foster sustainable development. HealthTech startup Kaia Health , for example, offers digital therapeutics that create accessible, evidence-based treatments for a range of disorders. Food and Retail Tech startup, Vital Vio designs, engineers and manufactures antibacterial LED technology for a growing range of commercial and residential applications. FinTech startup Keyless develops solutions for biometric, simultaneously secure authentication. Insurtech startup MotionsCloud ensures the processing of insurance claims in real time. Smart City startup Neustark is working on the reduction of cement by turning CO2 into carbonated elements in the building industry, and EdTech and New Work startup, Coorpacademy , provides personalized digital learning content for professional upskilling. “Every year, Kickstart attracts startups that are leaders in their field. The program has given us the opportunity to work quickly and effectively with these emerging companies, to accelerate our own business ideas, to learn what this means for Migros and what benefits can be created for our consumers,“ says Eliana Zamprogna, CTO of Migros Industry. “The commitment of our organization has increased significantly over the years. Our employees have the opportunity to think about business, innovation and technology in different ways and at different speeds than they do in their day-to-day work. This has strengthened the leadership and collaborative skills of our organization.”
Scaleups engaged this year:
EdTech & New Work #KICKSTARTERS20:
BOOKR Kids (Hungary) is a unique reading-based edutainment tool, designed to engage and delight the youngest learners in reading.
Coorpacademy (Switzerland) disrupts Corporate Digital Learning with its premium hub content and Learning Experience Platform, used by global leading brands for all their employees.
Gravity Global (Switzerland) saves 90% of your Enterprise Learning cost.
HRForecast (Germany) provides BigData answers and AI-solutions for people and organisations to be prepared for the future of work.
Innential (Germany) is a data-driven corporate learning platform, creating personalised learning experiences for individuals.
Sharpist (Germany) is the outcome-driven platform for people development powered by digital coaching.
SkillGym (Switzerland) makes soft skills development scalable and engaging through AI-driven Digital Role Play to practice conversations that matter.
Time is Ltd. (Czech Republic) is an advanced analytical SaaS platform for data-driven business leaders with a holistic approach to organizational productivity, communication culture, and digital collaboration setup.
FinTech & InsurTech #KICKSTARTERS20:
Build38 (Germany)secures business in the APP world against online fraud and data breaches.
decentriq (Switzerland) aims to change how the world accesses data: We enable the use of sensitive data from other organisations while provably guaranteeing the confidentiality and security of these data.
Keyless (United Kingdom) is a deeptech cybersecurity company building the world’s first privacy-preserving biometric authentication and personal identity management platform. The Keyless Cloud Platform empowers businesses to embrace passwordless, protect their remote workforce and enable strong customer authentication with just a look.
LAMIE direkt (Austria) is a full-stack InsurTECH empowering corporates to create digital insurance solutions within their existing ecosystem.
MotionsCloud (Germany) helps home & car insurance companies to streamline & automate claims processes powered by AI computer vision tech modules. We cut claims cycle time to 3 hrs, cut processing cost up to 75% and improve customer claim experience.
omocom (Sweden) offers innovative and fully digital insurance solutions for circular economy platforms including renting, sharing, leasing, resale (P2P, B2B, B2C); this can increase trust between transaction partners and thus help such platforms to grow and become more viable
Ratyng (Switzerland) takes credit ratings from wall street to main street, helping companies find better business partners.
tilbago (Switzerland) enables creditors to efficiently and effectively collect debt online.
TIMIFY (Germany) is an online solution for online booking, scheduling and resource management for small, medium and large companies
Yova (Switzerland) offers investments that combine sustainability impact with attractive returns — everything is digital, easy to understand, and transparent.
Food & Retail Tech #KICKSTARTERS20:
Ai Palette (Singapore) helps companies in product innovation by predicting food trends in realtime using AI & machine learning.
Alpengummi (Austria) is the first natural chewing gum of the Alps, only made of renewable resources and therefore free of plastics, artificial sweeteners and other possibly harmful ingredients.
Boost Biomes (United States) is developing microbial treatments for food & agriculture to extend shelf life and increase crop yields.
Greendeck (United Kingdom) uses AI to help retailers and brands with price optimisation and competitor monitoring.
iSense (Switzerland) complements flavour artistry with sensory data, analytics and the first cloud-based flavour collection management system, simplifying your flavour operation and accelerating flavour choice.
livealytics (Switzerland) provides IoT and analytics as a service for municipalities, real estate, live marketing, retail space, and trade shows. The solution is easy to deploy and manage, captures various footfall metrics, and provides relevant analytics, benchmarks, KPIs, and recommendations
Novolyze (France) improves safety, quality and sustainability of food production.
Prognolite (Switzerland) supports restaurants in reducing food waste and optimizing staff planning by predicting future demand thanks to machine learning algorithms.
Vital Vio (United States) is a health tech company and the creator of single-diode antimicrobial LED light technology (non-UV) that is safe for use in homes, public places and industry to create environments that are inhospitable to the growth of bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold and mildew.
HealthTech #KICKSTARTERS20:
Kaia Health (Germany) is a digital therapeutics company that creates accessible, evidence-based treatments for a range of disorders including back pain, knee- and hip pain, and COPD.
Klenico (Switzerland) supports healthcare professionals and patients in diagnosing mental disorders.
mementor (Switzerland) develops digital health applications in the field of sleep medicine and related medical areas.
Pryv (Switzerland)is a ready-to-use middleware for personal data and consent management. Pryv offers a solid foundation on which businesses build their own digital health solution, so they can collect, store, share and rightfully use personal data.
SidekickHealth (Iceland) is a Nordic digital therapeutics company, providing support to people with a wide range of chronic illnesses — including remote monitoring, treatment adherence and disease-specific education — driven by AI and gamification, resulting in leading retention rates and proven to sharply boost health outcomes.
Uplyfe (Switzerland) is an AI-powered health companion that reacts on your behaviour in nutrition and exercise, analyses your symptoms to help you influencing your health in a new way.
Smart City & Technology #KICKSTARTERS20:
Animatico (Switzerland) creates interactive avatars for a seamless interaction with digital devices.
FAAREN (Germany) enables all car dealers to become car subscription providers and offer their vehicles through the FAAREN marketplace to end customers.
Greyparrot (United Kingdom) provides AI-based waste recognition software to monitor and sort recyclables at scale.
HeatNeutral (Switzerland) is the future of zero emission and climate neutral heat energy. We produce the worlds most efficient, cost effective and scalable heating system for homes and industry powered by CO2 neutral fuels.
InstaDeep (United Kingdom) develops AI products and bespoke solutions for enterprise clients focusing on decision-making systems that solve existing problems across a range of industries using advanced ML, Reinforcement Learning and Deep Learning.
MOBBOT (Switzerland) is a 3D concrete printing for sustainable infrastructures.
Neustark (Switzerland) developes a containerized solution to store CO2 in construction materials.
Peter Park System (Germany) transforms parking lots into mobility hubs by providing parking lot operators with automatic license plate recognition, cloud-based software and the integration of parking apps.
Intrapreneurship Drives Established Companies to Generate New Business Growth and Creates Sustainable Cultural Change
In addition to partnerships between startups and established organizations, Kickstart supports the advancement of innovation in companies themselves. Nine intrapreneurship teams, independent within the companies, will also be part of the 2020 cohort. Alongside Swisscom, Mobiliar, Migros, this year, new partners have been engaged with their internal teams, including PostFinance, Holcim Switzerland and Energie360°. “Without innovation there cannot be sustainable growth,” explains Alice Dal Fuoco, Innovation Manager at PostFinance. “To support the growth of our innovation activities we are delighted to collaborate with external innovation leaders such as Kickstart.”
Intrapreneurship #KICKSTARTERS20:
#digitalreal (Mobiliar, FinTech & InsurTech) is a measure by Mobiliar that is intended to raise public awareness around the topic of cyber risk.
Atendo (Holcim Switzerland, Smart City & Technology) aims to eliminate tedious work and create a digital link, where we are able to digitally extract material from tendering documents and/or blueprint plans within seconds and thereby enable a starting point into automating the offering process.
Check&Connect (Mobiliar, FinTech & InsurTech) offers on the one hand the possibility for SMEs to easily and cost-effectively assess the security of their own IT infrastructure and on the other hand, direct contact with experts and additional services enable SMEs to remedy identified weaknesses and implement preventive measures.
CliMate (Swisscom, Smart City & Technology) motivates people to live more sustainable, by providing a community-driven platform dedicated to environment-friendly challenges.
lab360 (Energie 360°, Smart City & Technology) creates the hydrogen energy future.
Ormera (PostFinance, Smart City & Technology) is a blockchain based meter-to-cash solution that automates the entire billing process of self-produced energy.
Roady (Swisscom, Smart City & Technology) helps to navigate your travel to the places that are to your taste and liking.
The Ginius Way (Swisscom, Food & Retail Tech) gives you time for the important things in life by taking care of your daily tasks and chores.
WoWMi (Migros, Food & Retail Tech) – The Beauty Timeout — is a platform which combines one-stop personalized beauty and wellness treatments with add-ons and complementary services within a holistic ecosystem.
Kickstart is a spin-off of Impact Hub Zurich, a globally connected community of entrepreneurs, techies, and creatives. The ecosystem innovation platform runs programs for startups, intrapreneurs, CEOs and established organizations, including a kickoff week in September and a six-week collaboration Sprint from September 30th to November 8th, during which the international teams will engage in Switzerland. Kickstart’s locations this year are the innovation space Kraftwerk in Zurich and Impact Hub Lausanne.
Kickstart is one of Europe’s largest zero equity, multi-corporate ecosystem innovation platforms that runs a scale-up program for high-growth startups with the goal to accelerate deep tech innovation in Switzerland. Science and engineering-driven technologies have the potential to solve humanity’s biggest challenges. They require unprecedented collaboration between established organizations and the most audacious entrepreneurs out there. Kickstart is committed to build bridges and bring various organizations such as startups, corporates, cities, foundations and universities together.
Each year, Kickstart brings up to 100 entrepreneurs to Switzerland to collaborate with key players for proofs of concept, pilot projects and other innovation partnerships. Additionally, through the intrapreneurship program Kickstart helps established organisations accelerate internal innovation.
Kickstart is a spin-off of Impact Hub Zurich and was launched in 2015 by digitalswitzerland. In 2020, Kickstart runs five verticals: EdTech & New Work , FinTech & InsurTech , Food & Retail Tech , HealthTech , Smart City & Technology ; an Intrapreneurship program and the Circular Economy Initiative together with partner organizations across industries: AXA , Coop, Migros, Swisscom,Mobiliar , ETH Zürich , City of Zurich , Gebert Rüf Stiftung , Holcim Switzerland , MAVA Foundation , Mercator Foundation Switzerland , PostFinance , Mövenpick , New Work SE , Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE , Credit Suisse , CSEM , Energie 360° , Empa NEST , University Hospital Zurich , Panter , SATW , Swiss Healthcare Startups , Roche , Growpal , Ringier , Wenger & Vieli AG , Google for Startups ,Nespresso , Canton de Vaud , WECOCO and more.
And why not take inspiration from Arthur Schopenhauer’s 
