Driving own ideas forward with CSS Kickbox
Our employees are an important source of innovative ideas. We encourage their entrepreneurial spirit through CSS Kickbox.
What is Kickbox?
The Kickbox concept originally came from Adobe. The US software company used this in-house innovation programme to encourage staff to develop and test new ideas. Rready has shaped the programme further and created an intrapreneurship platform for Swiss companies.
CSS Kickbox was first launched in May 2019. Progress in the meantime has been quite impressive: almost 50 ideas have been submitted, of which over 30 received the RedBox, around 10 moved on to the pilot phase – the BlueBox – and two ideas even reached the GoldBox phase.
How does Kickbox work?
Employees with a promising idea can apply for a kickbox. At CSS, the Kickbox concept consists of three phases: validation, running a pilot and implementation.
RedBox: Validation
The RedBox comes with seed funding of CHF 1,000, a time budget approved by CSS amounting to 20% of normal working time, access to internal and external innovation experts plus a manual explaining how to go about validating an idea and providing valuable tips. After two months, a progress report is presented to a body made up of representatives of all areas of the company.
BlueBox: Running a pilot
If the jury’s decision is favourable, the second phase can get under way with the BlueBox. An additional CHF 10,000 to CHF 50,000 enables the employee to still devote 20% of their working time to piloting the idea and gaining initial market experience. The results are presented at the end of four months to the Corporate Executive Committee and other experts at a pitch event.
GoldBox: Implementation
If the idea manages to win over the body of experts, the third and final stage begins with the GoldBox. The employee can now work full-time on the idea. They are free to decide whether to implement the idea as a project within CSS or whether to create their own start-up company as a spin-off. An additional budget of CHF 100,000 is made available for market implementation.
What does CSS want to achieve with Kickbox?
CSS Kickbox gives our employees the opportunity to get their own meaningful ideas off the ground and thus create innovations themselves. In this way, we encourage entrepreneurship while also strengthening the internal culture of innovation. Kickbox gives employees the chance to create new products and business models, which in turn can help the healthcare system to evolve in a sustainable manner.
