As Architects of Change we help businesses transform the way they operate to build better businesses and in turn a better world. In a year that has been defined by the need to adapt, innovation has been a key skill to surviving difficult conditions.
Helping to encourage innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit across all Architects of Change, this year we
launched the Global Innovation Challenge. Providing employees the opportunity to develop innovative solutions that addressed societal or environmental issues, it encouraged teams to develop their full potential and creativity.
Over 200 colleagues joined the challenge, making up 35 teams across 20 countries all submitting innovative
solutions to the challenge. Their ideas were carefully developed from initial submission to competing in regional finals to our final Global Innovation Challenge to decide the global winners. After a closely fought final, the global
winners, Team #ItsNotAPieceofPaper from LATAM were crowned. Their solution looks to help migrants who are in search of work. One of the first ways to ensure that migrants can settle in a new country is by securing a job. However, gaining access to the job market is a principal barrier before even being able to secure employment. Their solution looks to resolve this, creating opportunities for qualified migrants and helping to reduce personnel shortages.
Their solution came from trying to help homeless people with regards to housing, food, health and education.
Working through that idea, they ended up looking at the plight of vulnerable migrants and refugees, and their access to the job market. After deciding that this would be their main focus, they wanted to tackle the issues of validating qualifications and skill sets. Using technology would make the process less bureaucratic but it soon became clear that the platform needed to go beyond academic qualifications, which cannot always be universally compared, and look to other hard and soft skills. Inspired by the Cisco Networking Academy, the team came up with the Logicalis Academy to help applicants learn behaviours and skills needed for available job vacancies.
Taking all these factors together they created the REBUILD platform. A responsive platform that helps vulnerable
migrants and refugees by enabling them to validate competencies through tests on hard and softs skills to help them enter the job market without the need for academic qualifications. All communications and collaboration on both sides of the job market is carried by Cisco Webex, which together with behavioural analysis software, can provide cognitive and emotional diagnosis of the candidate. Candidates will be able to check AI matched vacancies based on their abilities, and organisations will have access to a wider talent pool of qualified, motivated individuals, improving diversity and inclusion.
The issue of migrant and refugee workers not being able to find work is an almost age-less timeless issue. This
solution looks to provide proactive assistance to help them rebuild their lives in a dignified way through work and education.
As global winners, Team #ItsNotAPieceOfPaper will be receiving funding to develop their solution into a minimum viable product. The team commented, “Participating in the Global Innovation Challenge was a unique opportunity to explore and develop our skills whilst making new connections across the organisation. It took us out of our comfort zone and made us rethink our purpose in this world. If you want to see a change, you need to be the change. Often things can seem difficult, but with persistence and courage you will be able to face any adversity that comes up along the way.” We look forward to seeing their solution become a reality.