Unfold 2022 in Bern – by Cleverclip

In April 2022, the first edition of the Unfold event took place at Bierhübeli in Bern, which was organized by our partner company Cleverclip was launched — and we from statworx were also there, of course. The theme of the event was “Out of our own industry, into the unknown: Together we take on new perspectives and broaden our horizons.”

The program included an afternoon full of keynotes on future-oriented topics, networking sessions and much more! We also actively participated in the event: Our colleague Livia Eichenberger gave (or had it held 👀) a keynote on the topic of bias in AI, and as sponsors of the event, we also had a booth on site. What was immediately noticeable when you entered the event hall in Bierhübeli: The unbelievable atmosphere and the diverse, mixed audience. The stage was set!

The talks at Unfold 2022

At the heart of the event were the keynotes on such different topics that I can't even summarize them here, but would like to share my insights from the talks with you directly:

Talk 1: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack

“Citing yourself as sustainable as a company has the exact opposite effect for customers.” Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack got to the bottom of this statement in his keynote on sustainability. His key messages were:

• A company's image in terms of sustainability has much more to do with the credibility of the company or brand than with how an individual sustainability campaign is structured.
• Credibility in any Aspects, even beyond sustainability, are essential for believing that a company is sustainable.
• lookout: Highly promoted sustainability campaigns can sometimes have little or even the opposite effect. As an example, Prof. Dr. Hack cited a campaign by Krombacher in which 1m^2 rainforest is preserved for every case of beer. He called the action humorously: “We drink for the rainforest.”

Talk 2: Livia Eichenberger

“We come into contact with AI every day — but we usually don't notice it.” That was the teaser of the keynote from our colleague Livia. But her keynote went even further and showed the risks associated with the use of AI technologies. Unfortunately, Livia was unable to attend the Unfold in person and give her keynote speech. She kindly found a virtual assistant without further ado, the AI Avatar Rosa. 🦾🤖 So the message of the keynote could still be delivered in Bierhübeli. The following takeaways are particularly worth highlighting:

• Human biases are reflected in the data on which AI systems are trained. If you don't address these issues, these biases are transferred to AI systems.
• For unbiased AI, we need a diverse AI community!
• If we do the right thing, we as a society can break the bias in society hand in hand with AI systems. The time to act is now!

Talk 3: Alan Frei

Alan Frei's credo is: “To set up a company, you need one thing in particular at the beginning: nothing at all!” Under this motto, Alan took people on his journey as an entrepreneur and gave us his 10 takeaways for starting a startup, including:

• Focus: Focus on an idea.
• Target group: Work on a problem that also affects yourself.
• No fear: Have Don't be afraid to fail, the list of Alan's Fails was barely on one slide with font size 10 (thanks for your honesty Alan!).
• Fun fact: Alan has now set himself the goal of competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics for the Philippines. When asked about discipline, there was only one answer: “We have yet to find out. “🤔

Talk 4: Jürg Grossen

“With a high level of innovative strength and openness, Switzerland can become a pioneer in environmental and climate protection.” Jürg Grossen is certain of that. What we need to do for this:

• Have the opportunity to be self-sufficient in an emergency.
• Einen more efficient use of electricity. Stop wasting! IOT can be an assistant, as Jürg Grossen has also impressively demonstrated in his own company.
• A strong investment in solar energy.

Talk 5: Nicholas Hänny

When it comes to Nicholas Hänny, founder of Nikin, one thing is certain: “It's not about the idea, it's about implementation.” Specifically, Nicholas is talking about the areas of marketing and branding. My takeaways from his humorous keynote were:

• Not every marketing post or campaign has to be precisely planned, it can be helpful simply to actively post what you are thinking or doing right now.
• Nikin originally wanted to become a skater brand. When Nicholas and his team noticed that other people were also buying their products, they quickly abandoned this plan.
• The forest office does not exist 😭 For more information about the forest office, see here.

Afterparty

After the talks and a subsequent, very active networking session, the action moved to the new Cleverclip Office in the heart of Bern, designed in a new “jungle look”. There we ended the evening with a few beers, great people and in a relaxed atmosphere.

Unfold goes into the second round in 2023

Curious? Cleverclip has already announced the date for the next Unfold event. On March 30, 2023, Unfold will take place again at Bierhübeli in Bern. You can find all information on the website: https://unfold-event.ch/

‍We would like to thank Ceverclip again for the great organization and say: Until next year!