University of Geneva • Published on the 6th December 2021

Secure QR pass solution for UNIGE and HES-SO Geneva student meals

Following the decisions taken by the State Council on November 24, 2021, the University of Geneva as well as the Geneva University of Applied Sciences are offering meals for 5 francs to their students.

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Secure QR pass solution for UNIGE and HES-SO Geneva student meals

In a short period of time, less than two weeks, the UNIGE and the Department of Public Education of the Canton of Geneva entrusted the challenge to Atipik for the design and development of a digital solution to give access to vouchers to students and a way for cafeteria agents to scan and validate these vouchers.

An app for students and cafeteria workers

#1 Be able to generate a secure digital "Meal Pass"

UNIGE or HES-GE students who wish to benefit from a 5 CHF meal in the cafeteria must be able to use a personal voucher, in the form of a QR code from a PWA (Progressive Web App) available on all platforms (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet, etc.). The voucher is valid once a day during working days. Potentially 25,000 students will be able to connect at roughly the same time to take advantage of the subsidy and validate their Meal Pass, which implies technological choices that allow flexibility and stability.

#2 Be able to scan student vouchers

As part of the 5 CHF student meal project, cafeteria workers must be able to scan a student's QR code to count the 5 CHF meal that students benefit from, this was one of the conditions imposed by the Geneva State Council: that a follow-up of the subsidies "consumed" be put in place through a QR Pass.

Top time! You can't get more agile than that.

How to release an app in less than two weeks? Some will tell you it's impossible. We believe this is the very foundation of our methodology and the way we design our products: being agile. A small team was needed from day one. Daily progress meetings between the different academic institutions and our teams based in Geneva were on the agenda. E-mails, SMS and telephone calls are exchanged at all times, and the team's reactivity is exemplary, allowing it to make quick decisions and sometimes to change direction when conditions dictate. We had already had the opportunity to experience the extreme conditions of designing a complete solution in March 2020 during the first containment with the design of the entire solution used for the Drive-In Test in Geneva.

These projects are really special because they require all the experts to get out of their comfort zone. It's a race against time that we have to win at all costs, while maintaining our high level of quality.

Yannick Dürst CEO of Atipik

Happy students

The students' struggle lasted two long weeks. With the help of teams from the University of Geneva and the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, we were able to design a solution in record time that would have a significant impact on the lives of students, who have been hit hard by the consequences of the SARS-Covid pandemic that we have been suffering for almost two years. From day one, more than 5,500 students logged in to retrieve their passes, used thousands of times at various institutions.

Download the pass QR app

Discover the University of Geneva's QR pass solution.

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Secure QR pass solution for UNIGE and HES-SO Geneva student meals

An app for students and cafeteria workers

Top time! You can't get more agile than that.

Happy students

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