Starmind Blog

On Saturday, January 8, 2011, Pascale Bruderer, Member of the Swiss National Council and Starmind supporter, was awarded one of the most prestigious prizes of Switzerland: The SwissAward.

The SwissAward is given to outstanding Swiss individuals who made a positive impression in the past year for their achievements, courage, innovation or creativity. It is awarded in the categories economy, society, culture, politics and show. From 15 Swiss people who are nominated in each category, the winner is chosen by a jury of 100 personalities.

Pascale Bruderer, who stands for a new generation of politicians and connects elders and youth, won the award in the category politics, making her Switzerland’s politician of the year 2010. “I have always tried to bridge the gap between politics and the people”, Pascale Bruderer stated after receiving the SwissAward.

We congratulate Pascale Bruderer to this award and her achievements in the past year.

The new Starmind office

We are very happy to announce that on January 7, 2011, our new Starmind headquarter located in the center of Zurich was officially inaugurated.

The address of our new office is: Brandschenkestrasse 33, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland. Our new telephone number: +41 55 511 50 40.

After several weeks of hands-on team work, building and decorating the premises, the relocation of our new Starmind headquarter in the centre of Zurich could successfully be completed.

We would like to thank everyone who helped moving-in and building up the Starmind headquarter and are looking forward to developing and expanding Starmind further.

See below some pictures of the building:

Starmind office premises before move-in

Building new walls in the Starmind office

Robin and Pascal putting up a new wall in the Starmind office

Marc installing the Starmind logo onto the new office walls

Starmind has created a new up-to-date presentation, giving an overview of the functionalities and an insght into the concept and possibiltes of Starmind. Starting with the initiation of the site, you can also read about the early stages of Starmind, its business modell, Starmind partners, interesting facts and the new release Starmind 2.5.

All you need to know about Starmind in a nutshell:

Download the presentation in English

Download the presentation in German

On September 17, 2010, on the occasion of the beginning of the semester for university students, the Starmind notepads, sponsored by Credit Suisse, were distributed to freshmen students.

Marc Vontobel, Pascal Kaufmann and students with the golden Starmind notepads

The exclusive notepads in DIN A4 format, designed in Starmind gold and featuring the words “know how”, were given to freshmen students of Zurich University (UZH) and Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur (ZHAW). Within short time, 2000 notepads were distributed at the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and IT of Zurich University and 1500 notepads at the School of Management and Law of Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur.

“It was amazing to see how within short time, freshmen students could be recognised by carrying the eye-catching golden Starmind notepad under the arm. Still the next day, there were students carrying them with them and the Starmind notepads flashed up all over the faculty”, Pascal Kaufmann confirms.

How does Starmind work? Pascal Kaufmann details the mechansims and the philosophy of Starmind. “The lower a posted financial reward is, the more likely are you to attract creative and truly outstanding solutions. Starmind introduces an intelligent pricing mechanism with rewards increasing over time, fueling a global competition for outstanding solutions.” see youtube

How could the future of Open Innovation look like? “I think that in the future information will have no value since everyone can access it at any time. In contrast, the economic value of innovative individuals and talents is increasing significantly as differentiation and competitive advantage become more and more important. In a world war for talents, users become aware that their know-how is precious and can generate added value, so that they may become less likely to share their know-how for free. The future of open innovation may not be so open eventually.” see youtube

How Starmind is used as an HR tool for recruiting talents: “Several companies and employers use Starmind to single out talents and potential candidates for their open positions.  Instead of processing hundreds of handed in CVs,  employers can post a problem on Starmind that the successful candidate would face in his prospective position anyway. Depending on the solution the employer receives not hundred CVs need to be sorted out but just a few solutions need to be considered based on which you learn a lot about your candidate.  On Starmind you can also limit the number of solutions you like to receive usually 2-3 handed in concepts are sufficient. It is much easier just handing in excellent CVs, yet a lot more difficult to solve a problem and present the solution in an understandable manner. If that hurdle is successfully passed the candidate does not only earn the financial reward posted on Starmind but is also invited for an interview.  Checking out the CV would be more efficient and would make more sense when you already know that your candidate is able to solve the problems your business is facing.” see youtube