The Professional Development Network for the Next Generation

Project Information

Goodwall

Grant agreement ID: 868866

DOI

10.3030/868866

Project closed

EC signature date 11 May 2019

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 31 August 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

GOODWALL SA
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Goodwall (The Professional Development Network for the Next Generation)

Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The transition of students from University to the employment market is complex, generally resulting in high levels of youth unemployment. Universities are looking both for new tools for recruiting students, as well as for new opportunities to bridge their transition into the job market, whereas potential employers are looking for new strategies to attract and hire talent. The interfaces at the transition from high-school to University, and from University into the job market are our field of action.

Goodwall is a mobile-first career development platform for the next generation. We help students and young professionals enhance their skills, network, and navigate the future of earning and learning. Students build their first resume on Goodwall’s platform, showcasing their experiences, soft and hard skills, in a professional and engaging manner. Goodwall then connects them to career and learning opportunities, scholarships, mentors and peers around the globe. We connect employers and Universities with our users through our targeted sourcing approach, employer branding, and diversity solutions.

Through this project, we aim at developing further our pilot, which has already enjoyed of widespread success amongst our first target demographic (high school students transitioning to University). During the next development stages of our project, Goodwall will grow together with our customers. We aim hence at improving the features of our platform to address the needs of our ageing customers, which are now either University students or, soon, early stage professionals.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the reporting period, a full feasibility study of the Goodwall project was conducted in order to reduce risks and confirm project viability, ensuring it meets technical, commercial and financial requirements for successful commercialization. This feasibility study comprised four separate tasks:

1) Technical plan: this task analysed a top-down high-level view on features and functions that need to be developed and implemented for the fully upgraded Goodwall network.

2) Commercial plan and FTO analysis: this task established the commercial strategy based on an analysis of the market, as well as analysis the freedom-to-operate of the project (from an IP perspective).

3) Financial feasibility: this task assessed the financial viability of the project, identifying the total investment required to reach all planned features. It also established financial projections for revenue, costs, margin, and return on investment for the first five years of commercialisation.

4) Business plan: the research, analysis, and feedback obtained in the first three tasks was used to build a full business plan for the project. This business plan included the technical, commercial, and financial roadmaps, as well as a detailed description of the tasks to be developed during the project.

These four tasks demonstrated the feasibility (technical, commercial, and financial) of the Goodwall project, establishing clear technical, commercial, and financial roadmaps for a Phase 2 project (with EIC Accelerator funding), setting the basis for the successful execution of the project. It was hence decided to move forward with a Phase 2/EIC Accelerator proposal.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

"Goodwall’s development was planned according to three distinct steps:
- Step #1, “High School Students”: This step has been achieved in the form of the current Goodwall application, currently operational. (1.3 Mil users, +150 countries around the world, +65,000 different schools). As a starting point, support and recognition is provided to high school students by Goodwall’s Universities and coaches.
- Step #2, “University Students”: Goodwall grows and adapts to the needs of its users. Through various updates of the platform, users from the 19-24-year-old demographic will be able to build a network according to their personal and professional aspirations by discovering and applying for courses, programmes, internships, as well as part-time and full-time jobs.
- Step #3, “Recent Graduates”: By enabling the possibility to identify most relevant employment opportunities following the high school and University cycles, Goodwall plans to cater to the needs of young graduates older than 24 years as well. Additional learning courses, personal coaching sessions, executive learning opportunities and job placement will become available on the platform for this specific demographic group.

Goodwall’s first pilot project (addressing Step #1) was launched in the UK, US, and Switzerland, where it attained more than 800,000 users in the course of one year by sharing and liking the platform. Bearing in mind the remarkable outputs and wide acceptance thanks to the beta, Goodwall aims to further improve and develop its offer, targeting University students in the 19-24 age group, provided they want to find internships, summer schools, graduate degrees, or entry-level jobs in their fields. According to this, the current state of development of the technology is TRL7.

We are currently engaged in the Stesp #2 and #3. Our fist customers have bridged their transition from high school into Universities, and our application is growing up with them. Goodwall will accompany this generation along the academic growth, and into their induction into the job market.

The final result of the project will be a full platform for career development of young students and early career professionals, tailored to their needs, and enabling them to leverage of their earnt skills and aptitudes to bridge the transition from high school to University and into the job market, accompanying them through the whole process.

Our solution will have a clear social impact: by enabling young students to better showcase their skills, experience, and CV, we will facilitate and coach their transition into the job market, endowing them with a whole set of career development opportunities and tools. This will help address the problem of youth unemployment, while addressing the needs of the future job market.
"

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