KPMG leads Digital Future of Work hackathon

Teams from KPMG, bp, Microsoft, and the University of Cambridge come together to develop ideas that help to address common business issues including communication in a virtual world, the recruitment and retention of talent and the metaverse.

[London, 28 June, 2022]: Timed to coincide with the United Nation's (UN) World Creativity & Innovation Day, teams from KPMG, Microsoft, BP plc and the University of Cambridge Think Lab came together for a two-day KPMG 'Digital Future of Work' hackathon, focused on the UN's Sustainable Development Goal of `Decent work and economic growth', which promotes full and productive employment and sustained, inclusive economic growth. The event saw participants from across the globe explore the challenges facing modern businesses, such as talent shortages and the long-term applicability of hybrid working. Participants were tasked with turning their ideas into viable prototypes using KPMG's Illuminate platform to ideate virtually in advance of the hackathon.

Select ideas were then taken forward to the two-day event hosted in London at KPMG's Ignition Centre, where participants gathered to further develop and build a sustainable business model and finalize their prototype, before presenting their business cases to a panel of judges which included Roni Michael (Global Head of Innovation), Tom Koehler (Global Head of KPMG's Citizen Developer Program) and Anna Harrison (Senior HR business partner) from KPMG in the UK, Liz Leigh-Bowler (Modern Work Product Lead) from Microsoft, Janak Mehta (Senior Vice President People Services + Solutions) from BP plc and Tyler Shores (ThinkLab Manager) from the University of Cambridge ThinkLab.

The winner selected was The Good Job Tool, a platform that helps design roles which meets candidate expectations and takes into account the wider market and competitor offers. The development team will receive investment and support from KPMG's global innovation ecosystem and Ignition teams, which they will use to develop their solution further and scale it.

Two other teams received notable mentions and investment for further development including VROOMS - a marketplace of metaverse environments where users can book meetings, events and workshops, and AI Articulation - an AI Microsoft Teams application that uses AI to create graphic visualizations of discussions held during meetings and workshops.

With the further investment and focus, it is the intention to include these solutions as part of KPMG's global portfolio of solutions.  

Daniel Caines
Senior Manager, Global External Communications
E: Daniel.Caines@kpmg.co.uk

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