In April 2022, the first edition of the Unfold event took place in the Bierhübeli in Bern, which was brought to life by our partner Cleverclip – and of course, we from statworx were there as well. The event’s motto was “Out of your own industry, into the unknown: Together, we’ll take new angles and broaden our horizons.”
An afternoon full of keynotes on future-oriented topics, networking sessions, and much more was on the agenda! We also actively participated in the event: Our colleague Livia Eichenberger gave (with a little state-of-the-art help 👀) a keynote on Bias in AI. As sponsors of the event, we also had a booth on site. What struck me immediately upon entering the event hall at the Bierhübeli was the incredible 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 topics so diverse I can’t even summarize them here. Thus, let me dive straight into sharing my insights from the talks with you:
Talk 1: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack
“Calling yourself sustainable as a company has exactly the opposite effect on customers.” Prof. Dr. Andreas Hack explored this statement in his keynote on sustainability. His key messages were:
- The image of a company 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 aspect, even beyond sustainability, is essential for people to believe a company is sustainable.
- Caution: Heavily 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 of rainforest is preserved for every crate of beer. He humorously called the campaign: “We’re boozing for the rainforest”.
Talk 2: Livia Eichenberger
“We come into contact with AI every day – we just don’t realize it most of the time.” That was the teaser of our colleague Livia’s keynote. But her keynote went even further, highlighting the risks inherent in the application of AI technologies. Unfortunately, Livia could not attend Unfold in person and deliver her keynote. But she found a virtual helper without further ado, the AI avatar Rosa. 🦾🤖 So the message of the keynote could still be delivered in the Bierhübeli. Particular takeaways include the following:
- Human biases are reflected in the data on which AI systems are trained. If left unaddressed, these biases will be transferred to AI systems.
- For unbiased AI, we need a diverse AI community!
- If we do it right, we as a society can work hand in hand with AI systems to break the bias in society. The time to act is now!
Talk 3: Alan Frei
Alan Frei’s philosophy is, “To build a company, you need one thing in the beginning: nothing!” With this motto in mind, Alan took people on his journey as an entrepreneur, giving us his 10 takeaways for launching a startup, including:
- Focus: focus on one idea.
- Target group: Work on a problem that affects you.
- No fear: Don’t be afraid to fail; Alan’s list of fails barely fit on a slide at font size 10 (thanks for your honesty Alan!).
- Fun Fact: Alan has now made it his goal to compete for the Philippines in the 2026 Winter Olympics. When asked about the discipline, the only response was, “We have yet to find out.” 🤔
Talk 4: Jürg Grossen
“Switzerland can become a pioneer in environmental and climate protection with a high level of innovation and openness.” Jürg Grossen is sure of that. What we need to do for this:
- Have the ability to be self-sufficient in a case of emergency.
- A more efficient use of electricity. An end to waste! IOT can be a helper, as Jürg Grossen has also impressively demonstrated in his own company.
- A substantial investment in solar energy.
Talk 5: Nicholas Hänny
For Nicholas Hänny, founder of Nikin, one thing is certain: “It’s not about the idea, it’s about the implementation.” Specifically, Nicholas is talking about marketing and branding here. My takeaways from his humor-laced keynote were:
- Not every marketing post or campaign needs to be meticulously planned; it can be helpful to actively post what you are thinking or doing.
- Nikin originally wanted to become a skater brand. When Nicholas and his team realized that other people were buying their products, they quickly abandoned that plan.
- The Forest Office doesn’t exist 😭 For more info on the Forest Office, see here.
Afterparty
After the talks and a subsequent very active networking session, the action shifted to the newly “jungle-look” Cleverclip Office in the heart of Bern. We spent the evening with a beer or two, wonderful people, and a relaxed atmosphere.
Unfold goes into the second round in 2023
Curious now? Cleverclip has already announced the date for the follow-up event of Unfold. On March 30, 2023, Unfold will take place again at Bierhübeli in Bern. You can find all the info on the website: https://unfold-event.ch/
We would like to thank Ceverclip again for the excellent organization. See you next year!