GVA2 sponsors a team at the Lift:Lab
03.06.2017
The GVA2 association supports the "GEnIAL" citizen project within the Lift:Lab
The Urban Entrepreneur project is an incubator of ideas initiated about 5 years ago by Lift. It allows projects linked to “the smart city” to move from the concept and idea stage to the concretization and implementation stage. Through supervised workshops by academics and experts from across the fields of technology, marketing, prototyping, innovation methodology and coaching the Lift:Lab helps to develop projects around three themes:
1. Food and agriculture
2. Transport and mobility
3. Energy and the environment
After being approached by the Lift team to provide support, GVA2 chose a project called Conversational Responsive City.
This project aims to simplify the link between the citizens and the public authorities by facilitating administrative procedures, whether they are administrative or simply a search for information. A conversational platform will be created which will serve as a basis for the installation of chatbots. Thanks to artificial intelligence and the speed of connections, chatbots make it possible to avoid human intervention to answer practical questions. These will be developed according to the needs of the citizens.
A major innovation of the project is to offer user experiences adapted to all types of profiles (from chat integrated in Facebook Messenger to voice interfaces such as Siri or Alexa) and to allow children as well as elderly to effectively access this service.
Concerning the artificial intelligence and 'machine learning', the project approach is to develop an evolutionary system which will allow the algorithms to be improved according to the opportunities to collaborate with specialized Swiss research laboratories. The idea is eventually to foster the link between citizens through the sum of the information that will have been made available with this system.
The project will also consider all the security and privacy issues in this type of service.
The GVA2 team is very enthusiastic about participating in this project during the Lift:Lab and will continue to support it beyond! We will of course keep you informed of future developments!
Collaboration GVA2 - HEAD Geneva
02.09.2018
HEAD and GVA2 collaborated in a competition for an artistic intervention in the parks of Geneva
GVA2 approached HEAD's Bureau d' Intervention Publique (BIP) to organize a student competition to improve the experience of park walkers. The goal was to make the parks attractive and increase visitation as well as the popularity of the parks.
Guiding principles were drafted to frame the approach, and GVA2 trusted the teachers to specify the pedagogical aspects of the approach, leaving a great freedom for students.
In the end, no fewer than eight projects were presented to a jury composed of teachers, a representative of the Service des espaces verts, a teacher from HEPIA and members of our association's committee. The projects presented surprised us very pleasantly by their originality, their degree of achievement as well as by the intellectual and creative approach that guided the students.
The winning project, entitled "L'autre bout du monde", proposes to install a sculpture depicting the island of Chatham, located on the opposite side of Geneva in the New Zealand archipelago. Located not far from our "Bout-du-monde", in Bertrand Park, it will be made of a material containing phosphorescent crystals that glow in the dark. It will therefore be visible day and night, thanks to the crystals that store daylight. At both ends of the globe, the two islands of Chatham - the true and the sculpture - can be illuminated at the same time.
Now all we have to do is to go to the end of this project and make it a happen with the help of the authorities. To be continued...
Meet the Makers evening with Alp ICT
11.27.2017
GVA2 and Alp ICT to organize the first "Meet the Makers" event on Smart Cities
As part of its partnership with Alp ICT, the association organised a meeting of innovators from the digital technology scene thanks to the Meet the Makers campaign initiated by Alp ICT. In a different format from our thematic dinners, the association invited its members to discover this program. The event focused on the theme of Smart Cities and was followed by a dinner.
Our speakers presented their work and their vision for the integration of Smart Cities technologies in Switzerland and elsewhere. We had the pleasure of listening to the following speakers:
- Giorgio Pauletto, Strategy, Foresight and Innovation Designer at SIG. Mr. Paulette's mission is to develop a strategy of innovation and industrial intelligence. In the past, he has been a consultant in technology, strategy and foresight for the State of Geneva.
- Nicolas Bongard, Project Manager Cantonal Economic Strategy 2030, came to present the Canton's Smart City strategy.
- Anne Mellano Koymans, Co-Founder and VP of Operations of BestMile. This company has developed a platform for the management of autonomous vehicles. Founded in 2014, BestMile has offices in San Francisco (USA), Lausanne (Switzerland) and London (United Kingdom).
- Herve Dedieu, CEO of Novaccess, who created a multi-service platform for the global management of connected objects on a city-wide scale (monitoring of fire detection systems, lighting, etc.).
- Flavia Viscardi, Communication Manager of the Swiss Living Challenge, who has devised a new way of living and living together by offering the inhabitants of a neighbourhood to adopt sustainable gestures thanks to her solar house, the NeighborHub. The project won the Solar Decathlon 2017 competition organized by the U. S. Department of Energy.
The event brought together about fifty people and, according to their positive feedback, was a success.
In memory of Victoria Canonica
06.30.2017
The Notting Hill model by Victoria has been re-released in support of the Cansearch Foundation and the refugee children
In November 2016, little victoria sadly lost her battle against acute myeloid leukemia and was taken away from this world.
During her illness, Victoria designed a shoe in collaboration with the Benjie brand. The money raised from the sale of this shoe was donated to the Cansearch Foundation, which funds research projects against various forms of childhood cancer.
Today, her parents decided to continue the fight by creating the committee "Canfight for Victoria", an action group within the Cansearch Foundation. With support from GVA2, this committee has reproduced the shoe designed by Victoria.
Some of the pairs are being sold at the store and the proceeds donated to Cansearch. The others were given to the International School where Victoria was educated. The school, which encourages its students to actively participate in humanitarian projects, decided to donate a large number of the shoes to refugee children in the “Foyer des Tattes”. The remaining pairs were offered to Victoria's close friends.
We are proud that the fight against childhood cancer led by Victoria, and continued today by her parents, can provide support to children in need and financial aid towards cancer research.
If you want to help research against childhood cancer, you can go to canfightforvictoria.com or the Cansearch Foundation website!
Thank you for your help so that Victoria's fight continues!
GVA2 supports Alp ICT’s developments
06.14.2017
GVA2 supports the transformations and new positioning of Alp ICT, an organization dedicated to bringing digital actors together in western Switzerland
Dedicated to the economic development of the digital industry in western Switzerland, Alp ICT is active both regionally, nationally and internationally. In order to facilitate the digital transformation of industries and promote the excellence of digital players in Western Switzerland, Alp ICT acts as a liaison between companies, R&D Institutes, as well as institutional and financial players.
The increasing interest at national level for the digital sector, in terms of entrepreneurship and impact of society, is encouraging AlpICT to redefine its positioning in the Swiss digital ecosystem.
In this context, GVA2 decided to support the developments of Alp ICT, bringing in the marketing agency KollectiveLabs to conclude a series of partnerships with the private sector with AlpICT and allow it to start new collaborations with the various concerned industries. This long-term project is also about creating a shared vision for the future of the digital sector in Switzerland.
The teams conducting this project wish to move forward in the most collaborative way possible, by inviting individuals, companies and other bodies from the digital sector to contribute collectively to the development of the regional digital ecosystem and to promote Swiss digital innovation beyond its borders.
To find out more about this new initiative, go to the website www.alpict.com or contact the info@alpict.com team directly if you wish to contribute to the future of digital in Switzerland.
Results of the Rade Redevelopment Contest
05.09.2017
The two teams supported by our association were ranked 5th ex-aequo!
In response to the competition launched by the City of Geneva last fall, no fewer than 70 teams presented their projects. Among them, the Atelier Beauregard and Cent Degrés were supported by our association.
Floating barges, the increase in bathing areas, refreshments, new piers, urban greening, step ways, the rationalization of realization costs, smooth mobility and traffic congestion, and the enhancement of existing features, are among the many principles that guided our teams’ work.
For those not part of the 4 winning projects, we are very proud of the work accomplished and the projects presented. All ideas will be taken into consideration for future development projects by the City of Geneva. Please do not hesitate to send us an email at info@gva2.ch if you wish to see the details of the projects supported by our association.
An exhibition took place at the Forum Faubourg until the 19th of May 2017. The winning projects can still be seen until June 28, 2017 on the Gustave-Ador, Général-Guisan and Wilson docks.
To learn more about the contest, you can also visit larade.ch
