The Baloise Group is more than just a traditional insurance company. The changing security, safety and service needs of society in the digital age lie at the heart of its business activities. The 7,900 or so employees of Baloise therefore focus on the wishes of their customers. The best possible customer service, combined with innovative products and services, makes Baloise the first choice for people who want to feel ‘simply safe’. Located at the heart of Europe, with its head office in Basel, the Baloise Group is a provider of prevention, pension, assistance and insurance solutions. Its core markets are Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. In Switzerland, the Group also operates as a specialised financial services provider, offering a combination of insurance and banking services. The Group offers innovative pension products to retail customers throughout Europe from its competence centre in Luxembourg. Bâloise Holding Ltd shares are listed in the main segment of the SIX Swiss Exchange.
“We are looking forward to our collaboration with TWIICE, which restores mobility to people with musculo-skeletal conditions and thus makes a fundamental difference to their lives,” says Patrick Wirth, Head of the Mobility unit at Baloise. TWIICE specialises in ‘exoskeletons’, a type of external skeleton that enables people with conditions such as spinal cord injuries to stand up, walk and even climb stairs.
As part of its corporate social responsibility activities, Baloise supported TWIICE at the ‘cybathlon’ hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – a competition in which people with musculo-skeletal conditions compete against one another. The competition events involve practical challenges encountered in everyday life. As a social innovation, the technology developed by TWIICE is a perfect fit for Baloise’s sustainability strategy. “We are delighted about this new partnership with Baloise and look forward to a productive collaboration,” says Tristan Vouga, co-founder of TWIICE.
Over the coming months and years, TWIICE is also planning to harness its extensive experience and technical advances to develop products for people whose mobility has deteriorated due to old age. This will help the company to gradually expand its target group and increase the added value it can offer to society
About TWIICE
Thanks to the development of a modular exoskeleton that acts as a walking aid, TWIICE enables people to regain some autonomy in respect of everyday activities such as sitting, standing and walking on even and uneven ground. The designers also want to enable users to experience certain sensations (again) that are associated with walking or simply standing up. A single exoskeleton design would not be able to meet all of these requirements, because every person’s condition is different. It was therefore necessary to develop a modular, customisable product. The exoskeleton weighs 15kg and offers users 3 hours of autonomous movement. It is designed to adapt to different pathologies, morphologies and user experiences. The technical design process was geared towards achieving a simplicity that makes the device robust, reliable and light.