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/ The Backstory /
The story of GoodFestival and Roxbourg started in 2015 when three powerful women decided to invest in the Roxbourg HYPR Accelerator to address the root causes of social, gender, and environmental inequity. GoodFestival was launched in October 2016 and the Roxbourg Institute of Social Entrepreneurship, Switzerland was launched in February 2021. Roxbourg is a Professional Higher Education Institute. Roxbourg is designed for Architects, Artists, Athletes, Doctors, Engineers, Farmers, Founders, Humanitarians, Lawyers, Scientists, Teachers, Writers, and everyone who wants to earn a Professional MBA and a Professional Doctorate by scaling up projects or ventures that are addressing local needs inc. clean water, balanced nutrition, breathable air, renewable energy, quality education, reliable healthcare, secure habitat, or self-expression. All Good100 Projects are evaluated by the Roxbourg Institute of Social Entrepreneurship and showcased at the GoodFestival. This is a story of how GoodFestival and Roxbourg were built step by step.
GoodFestival Pre-launch Preparation, February 2015 - October 2016
The preparation for the GoodFestival started by assembling a team of students and teachers from EPFL, UNIL, and EHL. GoodFestival was created to showcase innovators who are building a better world.
GoodFestival 1E, 25-29 October 2016
We successfully launched the first edition of GoodFestival at the boat “Lausanne” operated by CGN and The Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland.
GoodFestival 2E,
20-22
April 2017
The second edition of GoodFestival had more workshops, speakers, collaborations and more jury members for the pitches by sustainable innovators from around the world. Now the question was how to create the strategy for scaling up together with our partners.
GoodFestival 3E,
17-21 October 2017
For the third edition of GoodFestival, we extended the scope of GoodFestival to include Music and invited over 70 speakers, workshop leaders and coaches. The third edition allowed us to reach a major milestone as we were able to deliver 3 Editions over 13 Days at 6 venues in just one year - thus establishing GoodFestival as the world’s biggest celebration of sustainable innovation.
GoodFestival 4E,
26-29 April 2018
During the fourth Edition of GoodFestival, we extended the scope to include the filmmakers, added the Brainstorm4Good for kids. This allowed us to broaden the age group of the innovators we were promoting and we also laid down the foundation of coproductions with GoodFestival Workshops.
GoodFestival 5E,
2 November to 14 December 2018
Six months later, we completed the circle by turning the fifth edition of GoodFestival into a platform where Innovators could not only showcase their projects but also co-produce events. Essentially, we created a risk management system that has allowed innovators to scale up without fear. The co-production system has now become the backbone of GoodFestival.
GoodFestival 6E,
Good Brand Summit, 15 May 2019
For the sixth edition of GoodFestival, we launched the GoodBrandSummit (GBS). GBS is about discovering Good Brands, Good People, and Good Food from organizations and companies which are tackling sustainability issues and positioning their brands to mean much more than money.
Roxbourg Sessions at Musée Romain, 27 July - 3 - 10 - 17 - 24 August 2019
In mid-2019, we started testing different formats to package the education part of GoodFestival so we could reach more innovators worldwide. The first format we tested was the Mastermind session. We delivered 10 different sessions and found that each session is so different so we continued our quest for finding the format for Roxbourg Sessions.
GoodFestival
7E, Global Good Congress 2E with Roxbourg, 15 November 2019
During the seventh edition of GoodFestival, we delivered the second episode of Global Good Congress, the biggest event of the past three years, breaking every record of the past six editions. For the first time, the GoodFestival team played all the roles - Innovator, Jury, Audience and Storyteller - and all jury members, innovators and audience members took a leadership role.
Good100 Medal by GoodFestival goes digital from 1 January 2020 onwards
The Good100 Medal is for sustainable innovators who are addressing the root causes of poverty / social inequity or climate change and want to collaborate with other innovators to build a better world for all of us. The selection criteria is that they need to make a positive difference in the lives of at least 100 people, plants or animals - without hurting anyone.
Now instead of receiving a metal Medal, hundreds of existing and new winners will receive a digital Good100 Medal.
Roxbourg Sessions at tibits, 1 - 15 - 29 February 2020
In early 2020, we tested the Business Review / Jam Sessions format over 3 different days. We discovered that the business review format is definitely a good format for screening innovators or for identifying pitch competition winners but offers limited possibilities for making this the “bread & butter” teaching format for Roxbourg Institute of Social Entrepreneurship (RISE).
Roxbourg Sessions via Zoom / Google Meet, 14 May - 19 November 2020
As COVID-19 took over the world in March 2020, we decided to move the Roxbourg Sessions online together with Google Meet & Zoom. After delivering 25 different variations of the seminar including round tables and single, dual and multi-lead seminars - we settled on the Roxbourg Jam Session / Seminar as the main format of the Roxbourg MBA Programs for Professionals.
#Switzerland4Good Campaign with Ashoka Switzerland, from 16 June 2020 onwards
With the #Switzerland4Good campaign our goal is to find a way to continue to showcase innovators from all over the world even when international travel remains severely restricted. To date, we have completed 35 digital showcases.
Moving forward, the #Switzerland4Good campaign will be part of the showcase portfolio of GoodFestival physical / hybrid events in 2021.
OneMillionSparks Digital Magazine adopts the micro-story format from 1 October 2020 onwards
OneMillionSparks is a media platform with over 300,000 fans for innovators who are part of the GoodFestival / Roxbourg / Switzerland4Good community to share news / micro-stories about their sustainable venture with the world. Innovators can choose to share any type of micro-story - introducing themselves or their venture; share news about launches / milestones achieved; share what inspires them, or any news about their team / community - and we will share their story with the world.
Press Release, 19th November 2020
We announced that we will launch the Roxbourg MBA and the Roxbourg HYPR Accelerator.
Roxbourg MBA Programs for Professionals, starting 3rd of February 2021
At the Firestarter Summit on the 3rd of February 2021, we operationally launched the Roxbourg HYPR Accelerator and the Roxbourg MBA, the world’s first professional higher education program designed from the ground up with the principles of social equity.
Roxbourg + Swiss EdTech Collider Partnership, 22nd of March 2021
We signed the partnership agreement with the Swiss EdTech Collider to shape the future of the trillion-dollar professional education market that includes corporate training, apprenticeships, internships and expert workshops.
Roxbourg Humanitarian MBA Program, 5th May 2021 onwards
With the support of Roxbourg Fellows and Roxbourg Professional MBA candidates and the Roxbourg Team - we launched the Roxbourg Humanitarian MBA program - which has evolved into the portfolio of 10 Masters and Doctorate Degrees including accreditation.
Roxbourg MBA+DBA Program for Professionals, 26th of May 2022 onwards
Based on feedback from the alumni and the Roxbourg Fellows, we launched the 400-day Professional Doctorate Program for Architects, Athletes, Teachers, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Humanitarians, and Founders who want to translate their experience into a professional doctorate.
Roxbourg Sustainable MBA Program for Leaders, 20th of November 2022 onwards
Based on feedback from the Roxbourg Fellows and the Roxbourg Jury, we launched the 200-day Sustainable MBA followed by the expansion of the Roxbourg MBA Programs to include 10 masters and doctorate degrees.
Roxbourg.SPACE Licence, 2 May 2023 onwards
After a series of public dialogues in 2022 and 2023 followed by several pilots, we launched the Roxbourg.SPACE License to support everyone to build their own accredited Professional Higher Education Academy anywhere in the world that is connected to the Roxbourg Digital Learning Platform.
Roxbourg Global MBA, 18 August 2023 onwards
Global companies everywhere raise funds globally but social entrepreneurs struggle to go beyond their countries or imagine a future beyond their continent. That is why we launched the Roxbourg Global MBA where you learn how to accelerate any social venture around the world.
Roxbourg Accreditarium, 2 September 2023 onwards
Eight years after launching GoodFestival & Roxbourg and interacting with over 4,000 social entrepreneurs from around the world, Roxbourg has started the rollout of a global accreditation program. Now professionals everywhere have the option to get accredited as a Roxbourg Fellow and build your own Academy powered by Roxbourg and a customized MBA Program.