**Project Vision** - The ICEBREAKER is a physical-digital badge equipped to provide high-quality networking experiences for the event industry by introducing safety, efficiency and playfulness. The smart badge offers a smooth experience for attendees allowing them to gain confidence in being around others through integrated social distancing measures, to navigate the space efficiently through visual cues which lead them to people with shared interests, and to have more meaningful in-person conversations that are digitally recorded for later use.
**Focus Areas** - The ICEBREAKERS combine various technologies to solve in-person and digital networking oversights in the event industry, by offering a multi-functional product that can be seamlessly integrated within any event context to enhance the networking experience of attendees.
**Key Objectives** - Through the ICEBREAKERS badges, Hirsch & Mann's (H&M) objectives are to introduce safety, for attendees' to network within reasonable proximity based on the latest COVID-19 related guidelines from the government. The badges also offer smart visual cues to identify attendees with shared interests across the event space, leading to more fruitful conversations during the limited time they have to connect with others. The badges are additionally designed to offer secure integration with already existing event App, digitally recording connections established during the event. These solutions may potentially lead to a reduced overall movement in the space, as the flow of attendees to network will become more guided and purposeful via the badge. Once the event is over, the collected data and event insights will offer organizers the possibility to use this engagement information for their own KPI's beyond the scope of this event.