by Michael Hunkeler
With Swisscom KICKBOX, Swisscom employees can easily launch and develop their innovative ideas at any time. They receive a starting budget of CHF 1000, 20% of their working time to use to work on their idea for two months, as well as a personal KICKBOX coach. Today Michael, Head of Swisscom KICKBOX, talks to Samuel Scheidegger about his idea, rough landings, and his collaboration with REGA to save lives.
Michael: Hey Samuel, good to see you! For once without a mattress and helmet!
Samuel: (Laughs). You know, it's not the falling that hurts but the impact - you have to be prepared.
Michael: Well said! But let’s start from the beginning: What is Life Sensor all about and how did you come up with your KICKBOX idea?
Samuel: I noticed that people pass out and fall relatively often, for example because of heart attacks, strokes or other accidents. This is okay as long as they are somewhere with other people who can react. But it quickly becomes life-threatening when a person is alone, for example at home or while jogging in the forest. Who’s there to call the ambulance when you are unconscious, lying on the ground? Nobody.
After my mother had an accident, I wanted to buy her something that would protect her in case of further accidents. But apart from a few ugly bracelets and watches with fall detection, there was nothing on the market. Since everyone has a smartphone in their pocket anyway and it has all the accelerometers needed for fall detection, I decided to build such a product. This is how Life Sensor was born, a smartphone application that detects when you fall and don't get up again. If you remain motionless for more than two minutes, an emergency call is automatically triggered with location transmission. Life Sensor calls for help when you can no longer do it yourself. For Life Sensor, you only need a smartphone and no other hardware such as a smartwatch. This makes us the first on the market and directly usable for many people.
The Life Sensor Team collects fall data.
Michael: Super exciting. You’ve already progressed through quite a few stages with your idea and will soon go live with your first big customer. Tell us more about that!
Samuel: I started Life Sensor during my apprenticeship at Swisscom and was selected to participate in the Kickstart Innovation Programme after I graduated. There I received very intense coaching on how to implement the idea, which gave my vision a strong push. In November 2021, this experience helped me to pitch Life Sensor to the Swisscom team B2B-PAP, with success. I got a work contract and several team members to help me build the first POC (Proof of Concept) for Rega. We completed this and are now in the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) phase. By the end of the year, we are planning the rollout for a selected group of users.
Michael: This is an incredible achievement! It gives me great pleasure to present you with the GoldBox today for a successfully scaled KICKBOX idea! Congratulations!
Samuel: Thank you so much for this and for the support throughout the journey. I will work hard every single day to move Life Sensor forward. Let's see what the future brings.