From Disruptor to Market Leader

Each year Baruch College, a constituent college of the City University of New York system, hosts an annual entrepreneurial business competition. In 2000, three students from the college were awarded a third-place prize of $5,000 in seed money for their development of a lesson builder tool that allowed faculty to author their own course content. The team had aspirations of disrupting and reimagining how training was delivered across many industries. Through the development of online simulations that used storytelling, character narratives and practice-based learning, Kognito was born.

Product Methodology

Kognito saw a gap in the training industry and knew there was a more meaningful and impactful way to provide training. They leveraged a powerful gaming engine, virtual human avatars, interactive conversation platform, relevant storytelling, and branching narratives to create a unique and interactive experience far from the traditional PowerPoint slides or the sit-and-get model of training. As technology advanced, so did the ability to create more life-like environments and characters. By 2012, the designers moved away from creating two dimensional avatars in favor of using three dimensional technology to create more life-like characters. This move to 3D also allowed for multiple conversations to take place within one environment too.

During this same time product development evolved from the use of Flash to the Unity gaming platform which featured the ability to host 3D characters and environments. Every step in the product development process has been intentional, with the hallmark being the ability to practice.

What's in a Name

You might be wondering how Kognito got its name. One evening, the same group of students who won the entrepreneurial competition spent hours brainstorming ideas in a lab at Baruch College. They considered several names and with the help of co-founder, Dr. Glenn Albright selected, 'Cognito,' a play on cognition defined as “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses." From here the name Kognito stuck. 

The Early Days

In those early years as a start-up, Kognito developed trainings for police detectives and a variety of industries and clients including Baruch College, Starwood hotels, Avalon Leasing, the DOE and disaster management of NYC just to name a few. In 2008, after the tragic Virginia Tech school shooting, Kognito sought to provide support in the form of training to college faculty. The goal of this training was to provide the tools and knowledge to recognize students in distress and assist them with how/when to make a referral to support. At-Risk Mental Health for Faculty and Staff became a flagship training product and spurred the creation of similar 'At-Risk' products for students as well as K-12 educators.

Evidence-based and Practice-based Learning

Kognito’s trainings are research-backed and grounded in the neuroscience of learning and social cognition. Proven effective in changing behaviors, these simulations appeal to users because they are fun, feature virtual coaching and allow the user to practice in a safe environment. With over 35 published journal articles, our team has created and contributed to efficacy studies on a variety of topics including student mental health, suicide prevention, addiction, and trauma. Check out our complete library of research.

Collaborations 

Over the years Kognito has collaborated with a variety of organizations on important initiatives. In 2013, Gallup hired Kognito to create a mobile app to teach parents how to educate their children about the risks of drug use. Two years later, we worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to create simulations focused on antibiotics as well as how to address the challenging behavior of children. In 2017, Kognito was awarded a contract to create virtual interview skills training for the Veterans Health Administration. 

Recognition

Throughout the years Kognito has received many awards and has been featured in various media coverage. In 2015, Kognito was accepted into the National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices (NREPP) by SAMHSA. This acceptance is considered prestigious as Kognito is the only training provider to be recognized by this program. We've also been the recipient of numerous product excellence awards including a gold medal award in the SEL category and bronze medal award in the healthcare category in 2019 from International Serious Play

Over the years, media coverage has afforded Kognito the opportunity to demonstrate how instrumental our simulations have been in teaching educators, students, parents and healthcare workers how to communicate and initiate conversations on sensitive and complex topics. Outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal to NPR have highlighted how these training simulations have helped to normalize conversations, especially around mental health. 

A New Chapter

In 2017, Kognito was acquired by Ascend Learning, a company focused on providing training and certifications across a variety of different healthcare, safety, academic and fitness brands. This acquisition furthered Kognito's reach and allowed their products to be leveraged across many other Ascend businesses including ATI, NHA and Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Where We Are Today

Over the last two decades we've accomplished a great deal including the release of over 60 products featuring hundreds of interactive conversations. We're proud to say that we have onboarded over 350 clients across multiple verticals which have provided training to 1.5M+ users. The work we're most proud of is the impact we know we're having right now on someone who, because of one of our trainings, is now confident enough to initiate a life-changing conversation.