Kirae : learning by gaming

The world we live in changes every day. Digitalization, AI, robotics tend to deeply transform how we work, leaving behind thousand of workers. As 30% of tomorrow jobs don't exist yet, recruiters focus on soft skills to hire people who can adapt to theses changes. But how do you advocate for your soft skills when the recruiter doesn't relate to your background ?

We help workers demonstrate their true potential no matter their background. No need to advocate for their soft skills anymore, they train and certify them through video games. All they have to do is to indicate their score on their CV, which can be verified online by the recruiter.

This could empower thousand of workers with atypical backgrounds, whether they only have short-term experiences, no curricular experience or only in a different field than what they're applying to.

Low-level employees are more likely to undergo brutal mobilities during their careers, especially now that their jobs are threatened by automation. As the OCDE predicts that 30% of jobs will disappear, and 85% of tomorrow jobs don't exist yet, how do we accompany workers through those changes ?

As 60% of recruiters tend to consider soft skills as more important than diplomas, it should get easier for people with no diplomas to get hired. Still, the unemployment rate is 4 times higher for someone without a diploma in France than for someone with a bachelor degree.

Problem is, there are few ways for the recruiter to assess these soft skills during a recruitment process :

a) believe the candidate when they say something (quite unusual)

b) submit the candidate to personality/psycho-technical tests (but all companies can't afford such a heavy process)

c) relate to the candidate experiences to extrapolate their soft skills (the most common way to do it)

But when you have little to no experience in the recruiter's field, whether it's because you don't have experience at all, or because you are trying to enter a new professional field, that's when things get complicated.

Kirae offers a web and mobile app that uses gaming to identify, train and certify soft skills : fast decision-making, complex problems resolution, empathy, selective and divided attention, flexibility, cooperation, farsightedness, memorization...

We detect your soft skills using video games to assess your reactions in a controlled environment, using cognitive tests mechanics.

We help you train and develop your soft skills using micro games specially designed with neuroscientists and cognition specialists.

When you feel ready, we score your abilities, just like TOEIC scores your English level. This certified score can be add to your CV and verified by the recruiters.

Kirae is design to help people take back control of their careers, and could make a big difference for people whose background do not reflect their true potential:

• women who stopped working to raise their children, and cannot justify of a recent work experience;
• low-level workers/young people just entering the job market for the first time whose jobs doesn't display the full range of their skills, or whose experiences are too short to be significant to the recruiter;
• workers undergoing a job mobility, chosen or not, because the recruiter cannot easily relate to their experiences and extrapolate soft skills from them;
• people with trouble with reading or writing, whether it is because they do not speak the country language or because of illiteracy or learning disabilities.

The job market is deeply transforming and recruiters now try to hire people who can learn, adapt and fit in. Soft skills are now taking the lead over hard skills, because as we don't know how the job market will look in 10, 20 or 30 years from now, we need people who can follow these fast-paced changes.

So offering workers the possibility to identify, train and certify their soft skills will help them advocate for their strengths while they look for a job, rather then focusing on their lack of experience, diplomas...

There are different types of solutions addressing the issue of evaluating and improving soft skills, sometimes using gaming:

• vocational training establishments now include soft skills related modules, via onsite training and e-learning (Cegos, Gerip);
• cognitive games help you develop some skills (Lumosity, Dr Kawashima);
• companies as Goshaba or Skilder design serious games as evaluating tools during recruitment processes.

Kirae stands out as the only company which addresses the problem as a whole and supports its users from identifying theirs strengths and weaknesses all the way through training and up to the certification process:

• by using video games as a universal medium, we enable all kind of people to highlight their strengths no matter how comfortable they are with reading and writing;
• by forging close bonds with cognitive science, we ensure the quality and the accuracy of our evaluations;
• by going through an international standardization process, we help people shine across borders;

We work on Unity to develop our mini games, based on cognitive tests mechanics. Then the games are embedded in a web and mobile app.

Each game address one soft skill:

• decision-making speed;
• multitasking;
• problem solving;
• cooperation;
• empathy;
• divided attention;
• selective attention;
• flexibility;
• information processing;
• anticipation.

For each game, we determine metrics (reaction time, accuracy, number of items memorized, number of trials to find the correct answer...) and process the player's data through an algorithm to determine a score for the skill tested. According to the results, we use AI to create a tailor-made training program for the player.

When the user first connect on the app, he takes a gamified test that mobilizes all the soft skills that we assess with Kirae.

He then gain access to the mini games that compose his training program, which is adjusted in real time while he plays.

Once he feels ready, he takes a test to get his score certified for each skill. This test is similar to the placement test, only each skill is tested several times to get the most accurate assessment. We also provide an overall average for each skill set : decision-making, interpersonal and analytical skills.

Kirae relies on several academic papers establishing that video games are a valuable tool when it comes to developing soft skills just as:

• decision-making speed;
• complex problem-solving;
• multitasking;
• cooperation;
• creativity;
• and many more.

As for the scoring process, we rely on cognitive tests to accurately evaluate people's skills.

Our objective within 2020 is to get three typologies of users to test the app:

• students;
• workers;
• job seekers.

Next year, we will deploy the first consolidated version with a national standard for our certification, setting our goal on counting among our clients 2 major business schools, 3 companies and a partnership with a national employment stakeholder. That would represent, on average:

• 1 000 students;
• 150 workers;
• 500 job seekers.

In five year, we plan on reaching 25% of students via their schools, 5% of workers through corporate learning and 20% of job seekers through employment services and foundations in Europe, and our first users in the United States, with a ISO standard for our certification to ensure a worldwide recognition from the recruiters. That would represent, on average:

• 5 millions of students;
• 12 millions of workers;
• 3 millions of job seekers.

We aim at certifying 25% of our users on the first year, up to 50% in the next three years and 80% in five years.

Within the next year, we plan on having 5 to 10 French major companies recognizing our certification during their recruitment process, and enrolling employment offices, training centres and insertion organizations as prescribers of Kirae for their beneficiaries.

That is why we are entering a process of standardization with AFNOR, as well as formalizing partnership with a research laboratory in cognitive sciences, so that employment stakeholders can gain confidence in our solution.

Working on making our solution a true tool on employability will insure better recruitment prospects for our target population.

Within five years, we want to achieve an ISO standardization process, which will help us get our solution to an international scale. Targeting multinational companies whose headquarters are in France first on the French market, then on the other countries where they operate will help us spread the solution worldwide.

Our first challenge is to get the recruiters to actually consider Kirae's certification when they recruit someone.

In order to do so, the standardization process is a key step, first on a national then global scale.

Another key step is to have a close partnership with a science laboratory to develop a truly efficient solution for our users. It will also help us spread confidence, thanks to their scientific approval. This confidence is a key in our relationships with the recruiters about the certification, but also with our users and clients about the training module.

In order to maximize our impact, our second challenge will be to efficiently target the populations in need for our solution. Indeed, we will need to build strong bridges with social-sector and employment actors in order to reach people in difficulty, sometimes far away from employment, experiencing economic hardship or personal difficulties.

To adress the standardization issue we already started a close work with AFNOR, our national standardization body, and we determined together a roadmap which will lead us up to European standardization in 3 years, and will help us get ready to prepare for ISO standard.

As for a science partnership, Kirae has entered a deep-tech program on a business incubator, 1KUBATOR, which helps us engage on a partnership with sciences laboratories. We also plan on recruiting a PhD student in 2021, who will work on a thesis on cognitive science and related to our activity.

Finally, we are working on getting close to our target population by building a strong network of prescribers for our solution, to spread it among students, workers and job seekers. In order to do so, we work with local and national organizations who already address social cohesion and inclusion and work with our target populations.We also offer companies the opportunity to buy a number of access in addition to those they bought for their employees on their CSR budgets, which will then be granted to non-profit organization working with people in difficulty.

Full-time staff : 2

As for today, Kirae's workforce is made of its founder, Lisa Ferrer, working full time, and a PhD specialized in cognitive sciences.

Part-time staff : 2

In addition to the core team, 2 summer interns work on game design and development, with the support of our partner 1KUBATOR which brings tools and expertise on development.

A student-apprentice will join the team on September 2020 and we plan on recruiting a PhD student in 2021.

Kirae's founder, Lisa Ferrer, has made her early career of using video games as educational tools in French libraries. She spent 5 years convincing local politicians, librarians and social workers that video games are a valuable tool to empower children as they develop a set of skills they will use both in their personal and professional lives: creativity, team spirit, leadership, problem solving...

As she was thinking of exploring new job opportunities, she realized how difficult it was to advocate for your soft skills when the recruiter is not familiar with your previous line of work, or does not relate to your life experiences.

That's how she decided to design a tool that would help each and every one demonstrate their true potential, no matter their background, their diplomas, their work experience or even their language.

New addition to the team, a PhD in cognitive sciences just join the team to bring her expertise in the development of the solution.

Kirae has joined 1KUBATOR, a business incubator in April 2020, for a 18 month program.

First first innovation network in France, they will support Kirae for 18 months, offering us access to business coaching, workshops, connexion with business network, and provision of offices and services. They provides a wide range of solutions to create a startup in the best conditions.

1Kubator is a shareholder in each of the startups they support. They invested 28 000$ for 10% of Kirae's shares. They work with startups in deeptech, hardware or IOT, as well as in Tech for Good or purely digital.

Kirae offers its users a way to demonstrate their softskills, no matter their background, previous line of work or life experiences, improving their chances to find a job.

As for its customers, Kirae offers employment services and schools to improve the employability of their users, while companies will improve the management of their employees' careers and both internal and external mobility. All customers also benefit from the objective assessment of the certified candidates' soft skills during recruitment processes.

Relying on a strong network of prescribers (both national and local employment and social integration stakeholders), Kirae sells annual subscriptions to employment services, schools and companies. Prices are defined by the number of users customer wants to grant access to the training program, and certify. The first placement test will be freely accessible online.

Companies will also be offered a possibility to buy extra accesses and certifications, on their CSR budgets, which will be granted to non-profit organizations working with targeted populations :

• women,
• employees affected by a redundancy plan,
• low level workers,
• refugees,
• people suffering from learning disorders.

We estimate our breakeven point at 200 000 users per year, goal we plan to reach in 2023.

In order to reach this goal, we plan to sustain our development first with grants and debt, with in our line of sight our first capital raising in 18 to 24 months. It should be used to deploy our solution broadly in France.

In three years, a second capital raising should help us scale to international market.

We mentioned two main challenges for Kirae.

First, we need to gain recruiter's trust for them to consider our certification when they look at a candidate CV. Standardization will significantly improve our credibility, but accessing MIT Solve's network would considerably accelerate the process, allowing us to deal with major employment stakeholders and recruiters from early stage of development. This would help us align to the closest with market needs, and allow us to penetrate US market much more quickly.

Our second main challenge is to reach our target populations, and that's why we concentrate on building a strong network of prescribers among employment services, non-profit organizations already working with job seekers and people with difficulties. Again, we would valuate the contribution of MIT Solve in extending this network, and helping us link companies which would be willing to buy extra accesses on their CSR budgets and non-profit working with targeted populations.

Finally, as we are building strong bonds with research laboratories en France, MIT Solve could help us build similar partnerships with laboratories across the world, helping us make a greater impact on people's lives.

We would valuate MIT's contribution to help us build partnerships with science laboratories across the world.

As said in previous answer, we plan on building a strong network of prescribers to help us spread our solution and would valuate any connection MIT could help us make.

We are also keen on recruiting board members and advisors from diverse backgrounds and countries.

Last but not least, exposure from our participation in MIT Solve would be a valuable asset to spread our solution broadly.

As Kirae motto is "learning by gaming" and Scratch' "Learn to code, code to learn", we believe that there is a synergy between the two solutions, for example by developing a program to create games in Scratch that could be used to assess soft skills in Kirae.

We would also love the opportunity to work with MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, especially the Picower Institute.

Using video games to certify soft skills allows people who are not comfortable with the country's language to advocate for their soft skills anyway. This could significantly improve refugee's opportunity for jobs, helping them regain confidence in their abilities.

We could use The Andan Prize for Innovation to accelerate the development of our solution, by helping us gather funds to recruit our developer team and transform our prototype into a stable version for our first users and clients.

Women all around the world still suffer from lower wages and disrupted careers, as they are responsible for taking care of children in most families and often quit working, for more or less time, to do so. The consequence for them when they seek for a new job after maternity or childcare is a difficulty to advocate for their skills without a recent work experience to support their claim.

By offering a new objective assessment of women's soft skills, Kirae could help them demonstrate for the skills they develop in their personal lives as well as the one developed while working, and enhance both their career and life experiences.

We could use Innovation for Women Prize to accelerate the development of our solution, by helping us gather funds to recruit our developer team and transform our prototype into a stable version for our first users and clients.

As 85% of jobs are going to be impacted by AI, digitization, robotics... recruiters now tend to focus on soft skills to hire people who can learn, adapt and fit in in this fast changing job market. But advocating for your soft skills can be difficult when your background doesn't reflect your true potential, or when the recruiter doesn't relate to your previous line of work.

Kirae is design to help people take back control of their careers, and access jobs that match their true potential, no matter their background.

We could use The GM Prize on Good Jobs and Inclusive Entrepreneurship to accelerate the development of our solution, by helping us gather funds to recruit our developer team and transform our prototype into a stable version for our first users and clients.

As 85% of jobs are going to be impacted by AI, digitization, robotics... recruiters now tend to focus on soft skills to hire people who can learn, adapt and fit in in this fast changing job market. But advocating for your soft skills can be difficult when your background doesn't reflect your true potential, or when the recruiter doesn't relate to your previous line of work.

Kirae is design to help people take back control of their careers, and access jobs that match their true potential, no matter their background.With a training program based on mobile gaming, you better your soft skills seamlessly.

We could use Gulbenkian Award for Adult Literacy to accelerate the development of our solution, by helping us gather funds to recruit our developer team and transform our prototype into a stable version for our first users and clients.