Bucharest, 26 May 2020 – Equatorial, a Romanian company specialized in alternative training, announces the official launch of its game “Bona Fides” – the first game built to develop skills required for the jobs of the future identified by the World Economic Forum such as critical thinking, complex decision making, problem-solving, logic and creativity in adults.
“In 2018, Romania has obtained the lowest score in the PISA test in the past nine years, in mathematics, sciences, and reading. Less than half of Romanian pupils can use the knowledge learned in school in daily life. If we do not resolve them at youth, these shortfalls continue to manifest in our adulthood, and they preclude us from reaching our full potential. With that in mind we have developed Bona Fides, to address the gaps generated by the conventional education system. Our today’s launch of Bona Fides marks the beginning of the largest adult education project in Romania” said Diana Rosetka, Managing Partner at Equatorial.
In Bona Fides games, the player becomes a secret agent for Bona Fides Agency that fights to save the society from a collapse caused by social media, technology, and malefic corporations that collect data about people to influence their decisions. To protect the world from danger, the user must follow three distinctive missions available at https://bonafidesagency.com. In each mission, the player is presented with several tasks – puzzles to solve – that challenge their intelligence, critical thinking and creativity. Upon completion of the first part of the game available in the browser, the player is then invited to download the Bona Fides App from the Apple and Google Play Stores, where the game continues with further missions. Until June 30th, the application is provided free of charge with the help of voucher code powerofplay.
By developing this learning tool, the specialists took into account adults and adolescents seeking to accelerate their personal and professional development, as well as employees of Romanian multinational and entrepreneurial companies who want to prepare for the future of the labor market that will continue to require new skills.
“We address in particular Romanian companies that want to develop the critical thinking skills of their employees. We invite local businesses of all sizes to join our ambitious endeavor, familiarize themselves with the Bona Fides game and encourage their colleagues to participate in the game to develop, or unleash, new skills” added Diana Rosetka.
According to the World Economic Forum, the Future of Jobs Report from 2018, by 2022, the most in-demand skills will be active learning, analytical thinking and innovation, active learning and learning strategies as well as creativity, originality and initiative, followed by programming, critical thinking and complex problem-solving. Emotional intelligence and leadership abilities will also be sought-after.
Companies interested in deploying the game at a large scale are invited to contact Equatorial directly at bfa@equatorial.ro, to receive support materials that encourage their employees to join the game. Especially in the current context of COVID-19, the Bona Fides game can help employees adapt to and deal with new environments that require them to think differently.
The game was tested in 2019 with 200 participants, during the HR Play Tech and Microsoft Envision Summit and received positive feedback from the players. Bona Fides is a spin-off of the flagship product of Equatorial: VRunners. The game was launched by Equatorial in 2014 and so far over 2,000 participants including employees from companies such as BCR, Danone, Medicover, Holcim Romania, Orange, Groupama or British America Tobacco Romania have played it.
About Equatorial
Equatorial, part of the Bittnet group, is the first HR-tech company in Romania. With experience on the training market since 2002, Equatorial implements soft skills development programs in which it combines technology with learning. As a result, Equatorial has been recognized by the Romanian HR community for innovative projects in the field of human resources strategy and learning and development through game-based learning.