Poken

Poken is a cloud-based event management platform utilized by trade shows and exhibitions, corporate and association events, and sports and youth events. The modular platform includes features and services such as registration and badging, match-making, meeting scheduling, mobile apps, NFC interactive USB devices, lead generation devices, gamification, access control, and metrics reporting.

== History == thumb|A Poken interactive USB device|290px|right The company, Poken S.A., was founded in December 2007 in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Stéphane Doutriaux. The founder developed the initial concept of an interactive USB device for sharing personal information and social networks by touch while doing his MBA at IMD, a business school in Lausanne. This project was inspired by an application running on the IMD campus developed by Gabriel Klein in 2004, one of the first employees of Poken. The technology was developed in collaboration with the Berner Fachhochschule, a university of applied sciences in Biel, Switzerland. The project started in July 2008 and ended in December of the same year. The first release of the interactive USB device, called ‘Sparks,’ was in January 2009. Since the initial development of the Poken 'Spark,' the company has expanded its lines of products and services.