Starmind Blog

On January 16, 2011, Starmind and Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) signed a collaboration contract, making the ZHAW the first university of applied sciences to join the Starmind network.

The ZHAW is one of the largest and most productive universities of applied sciences in Switzerland with about 9000 students enrolled in a total of 24 Bachelor’s degree programmes and 11 consecutive Master’s programmes.

Heinrich Stülpnagel and Pascal Kaufmann after the signing of the contract in Zurich

Starmind, as exclusive marketplace for know-how and solutions, is only accessible by invitation or to members of partner organizations. This contract allows all students and employees of the ZHAW, identified by a ZHAW email address, to directly access Starmind. Through innovative know-how exchange mechanisms on Starmind, ZHAW students can obtain creative solutions to posted challenges and apply their knowledge to solve practical problems, fully compliant with the ZHAW philosophy of close connection to everyday working practice.

The Starmind team looks forward to successfully cooperating with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and wishes all ZHAW students fun exchanging know-how!

Daniel Moser, 21, St. Gallen, Switzerland
I’m a 21 years old Business Administration student at the University of St. Gallen. For Starmind I’m helping as Intelligence Officer to establish this excellent service.

Connect to Daniel Moser
-> Daniel Moser on Starmind
-> Posted Starmind questions
-> Solved Starmind questions

Starmind Status
Starmind Bronze Brain

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
nnnnnnnnn

7 questions, 7 answers from Daniel Moser

1.) If I was awarded a Nobel prize it would be in the field of….
…creativity or boulevard knowledge.

2.) On the other hand, my sore points are…
…higher mathematics.

3.) I share my know-how on Starmind because…
…because my know-how helps other people to solve their problems.

4.) The most interesting Starmind question so far was…
…“Urzeit Code und Antigravitation: Was ist davon zu halten?” by Peter Ebner. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. I love conspiracies.

5.) When I am not busy answering Starmind questions I…
…I’m studying at the university or I’m watching stupid reality shows with my flatmates.

6.) I believe that in ten years…
…I’ll drive an Apple car called iCar, with a touch screen steering wheel.

7.) If I ruled the world…
…I would build funky space ships. Thus humanity is able to explore the universe, trade and communicate with other species and fight the “death star”.

What is a Starmind portrait?

Starmind starts the first financing round giving out shares to selected investors and partners.
On May 28, 2010 Marc Vontobel, Starmind’s head IT and partner of Starmind together with Pascal Kaufmann, former president and founder of Starmind Ltd. have successfully signed off the foundation of the new company “Starmind International AG”. The foundation in Zurich’s notary office was supervised by Andreas Niemack from the internationally operating Swiss trust company Interis AG.

Starmind has roots at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and was initially installed as an association operated by University and ETH graduates. Later, Starmind Ltd. was founded as a private liability company (Gmbh), allowing Starmind to close first collaboration contracts with partners and universities and to effectively trade know-how. With the increasing interest in Starmind from the side of users, business clients and potential investors a new legal structure was designed allowing investors to purchase Starmind shares strengthening Starmind’s financial basis in a first financing round. The Starmind company is supported by a highly distinguished advisory board representing different industries and sectors, supporting the Starmind board of directors headed by Pascal Kaufmann and Marc Vontobel. Starmind Ltd. will be integrated into the corporation and focus on Starmind’s business services.

The successful Starmind launch was then celebrated at Club Amber in Zurich to which team members, VIPs and various Starmind supporters have been invited. The SHAB publication date was set to 10.06.2010, Publ. 5668510.

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

Amancio Bouza, 31, Zürich, Switzerland
I’m a doctoral student at the Department of Informatics at the University of Zurich. I’m doing research in the field of machine learning, probabilistic graphical models, Semantic Web technologies and it’s application to collaborative filtering-based recommender systems.

Connect to Amancio Bouza
-> Amancio Bouza on Starmind
-> Posted Starmind questions
-> Solved Starmind questions

Starmind Status
Starmind Master

7 questions, 7 answers from Amancio Bouza

1.) If I was awarded a Nobel prize it would be in the field of….
…imagination.

2.) On the other hand, my sore points are…
…expecting too much from anyone, especially from myself.

3.) I share my know-how on Starmind because…
…of intrinsic motivation and because I think my know-how may be of value.

4.) The most interesting Starmind question so far was…
…”How many leafs hang on all trees on earth?”, by Susanne Guldner. I’m fascinated about such questions that are not solvable with knowledge solely, but with know-how.

5.) When I am not busy answering Starmind questions I…
…spend time implementing crazy ideas and challenge myself among other things with training my self for my first Marathon and gathering new knowledge to get new perspectives on understanding problems and be prepared facing them

6.) I believe that in ten years…
…the evolution of mankind’s knowledge and the world will be just impressive.

7.) If I ruled the world…
…it will end in a great disaster because complex dynamic systems such as our world are self-oganizing and self-repairing systems that cannot  and shouldn’t be ruled by a single instance.

What is a Starmind portrait?