Start-ups Join Forces To Improve The Nation’s Resilience

Two start-ups from different parts of the country have come together over an ambitious goal - to increase New Zealand’s collective resilience.

Gisborne-based Riposte and Christchurch-based Wanderble met online through the Hack the Crisis NZ challenge, which started last night. The 48-hour innovation challenge is a response to the pandemic which has been held in more than 30 countries. Judges include Vic Crone from Callahan innovation and mental health advocate Mike King.

Riposte is a social feedback app that allows communities to collectively see how they are doing using quick daily check-ins and machine learning technology. Wanderble is a mindfulness start-up that released a free 28-day mindfulness in isolation course on the day the country went into lockdown.

Together the two start-ups aim to provide tools for measuring and improving well-being.

Riposte co-founder Debs Hancock says, “Our mission is to make it easier for communities and organisations to measure the wellbeing of people so they can provide more relevant and timely support. It’ll also help us gain a better understanding of the collective wellbeing across specific groups within our communities. We’re crowdsourcing social wellbeing data using the Riposte app because it’s easier and more fun to use than filling out surveys.”

Wanderble co-founder Kris Herbert says, “Mindfulness has been shown to reduce anxiety and improve immunity so it’s a great time to introduce these tools to people. By working with Riposte, we can turn individual efforts into a collective success. We can connect our communities to make them stronger and more resilient - because it’s unlikely this will be the last crisis our country faces.”

The Riposte-Wanderble team is asking people to sign up to test their solution over the weekend so that they can report real data to the judges on Sunday.

Hancock says, “Real-time data is powerful because it means that support can be provided when it’s needed and not weeks after the fact, and it gives us a window into how the other ‘bubbles’ around us are coping during these uncertain times.”

Herbert says, “Mindfulness benefits have been measured after just one 10-minute session so it is possible that we can show small leaps in a very short period of time.”

The founders believe this is the world’s first collective mindfulness project. Everyone who takes part will be sent a link to a live data feed, showing how people are feeling and how Wanderble is helping.

Sign up at https://www.subscribepage.com/hackthecrisis

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