On the first of April, we at TOPSIM celebrate our 40th anniversary. We are using our round birthday as an opportunity to look back on our history and the many important experiences we have had as a team and in cooperation with our customers and partners.
Here is what we have already experienced in our 40 years of TOPSIM:
- A change of location to a city 160.68 km away
- Several name changes
- Implementation of 150 simulations for colleges, universities and companies
- Development of individual deployment and seminar concepts
- Many joint team events
Our history
Our origins go back exactly 40 years. What began in 1982 as the business simulation manufacturer UNICON GmbH in Meersburg on Lake Constance has developed over the decades into the TOPSIM brand as we know it today.
The first series of our TOPSIM business simulations started in 1990 and was developed in cooperation with some of our customers. Soon after, we entered the university market with our simulations and in the same decade we became the market leader for business simulation games in German-speaking countries.
Ten years later, at the turn of the millennium, we moved from Lake Constance to the beautiful city of Tübingen and have since been located in the well-known Neckarhalde 55.
Over the years, some strong partners joined our side, who have accompanied us on our way ever since. In 2005, we began to increasingly gain a foothold with our business simulations outside the German-speaking region and to expand our network, and since then we have already been active in many countries.
With the development of the TOPSIM Cloud in 2013, many business simulations that were previously only available offline can be played online. This allowed us to improve the learning experience and guarantee flexible use of our simulations.
In 2018, not only did the company name change to TOPSIM GmbH, but we also entered into a strategic partnership with MPS Limited, a leading global provider of platform and digital learning solutions.
In our four decades of TOPSIM, we have always implemented simulations with great dedication and look forward to further projects. In 2022, we have another exciting year ahead of us with the rebranding of our business simulations and the expansion of the TOPSIM cloud.
Our team
The company and the team have always been in a state of change over the years. We have been happy about new additions to the team in form of permanent employees, working students and interns, but unfortunately also had to say goodbye to colleagues of many years.
Together we have experienced a lot and gained a lot of experience. We were able to strengthen our cohesion through our numerous team events, summer parties and weekly Jour fixes. A family environment has developed in which true friendships have grown out of collegiality.
Our team events in particular have enabled us to get to know each other even better and to exchange ideas intensively. These are held every year in different regions, so that we were able to explore not only different cities, but also other countries. These are the ones we remember most fondly:
“The two most beautiful and impressive events were the first team event on Mallorca in January 2007 together with our Swiss colleagues and the CEO from India; and then the last one for the time being before Corona in February 2020 in the crisp cold in the Black Forest. We were all full of energy and ideas for the future and we had a lot of fun.”
– Lilly, Head of Business
One thing is clear: our TOPSIM team events are never boring! Even though the pandemic slowed us down a bit, we can’t wait for the upcoming events and are already looking forward to the joint graffiti workshop that will hopefully take place this year.
Also the weekly Jour fixes are among our personal highlights. Every Wednesday, a different colleague has to cook for everyone, regardless of whether he or she is good at wielding the wooden spoon, according to our company motto: “Learning Business by Doing Business“.
For years, we have been going on a culinary journey and tasting a wide variety of specialties. Especially the Jour fixe with the motto “Harry Potter” is still talked about and reminisced about today. Our tradition was temporarily put on hold, but this year we want to get started with it again and sample more delicacies.
“My highlight are the Jour fixes – with everyone together; fortunately not just once, but very regularly”
– Kathrin, Modeling Team
Our team has a lot in common, but most of all a passion for business simulations. Everyone has their personal favorite, but there is never a shortage of volunteers for testing new versions, onboarding new employees or getting to know old offline classics or new simulations and features in the cloud. We asked our colleagues about their personal favorites and received the following answers, among others:
“Going Global, because here every participant region starts the first period with different prerequisites”
– Marcel, Sales Team
“Business Challenge, because here, among other things, there is an animated onboarding. Partly animated characters help the participant to prepare for the business game and to get along with the reports. For me as a visual person, a nice change from all the numbers.”
– Alexandra, Marketing Team
“TOPSIM – Destination Management. It was my first and had a special touch from competition and collaboration. Unfortunately, the topic was very specific and not enough takers were found.”
– Fabian, Sales Team
At TOPSIM, every team member can go above and beyond and take on new challenges. Every day is different and offers new opportunities to realize ideas. This is what we particularly appreciate about our company:
“The community, the diverse and varied tasks.”
– Kathrin, Modeling Team
“TOPSIM is a team in which you can give free rein to your creativity in a good sense.”
– Sascha, Cloud Team
“The interaction with each other and that every opinion is valued, be it from interns, students or permanent employees. Every person can contribute to the same extent.”
– Maren, Marketing Team
“Self-determined work. The possibility to decide for yourself in the team what is worked on and in which prioritization.”
– Jonathan, Cloud Team
We would like to thank everyone who has accompanied us on our journey and continues to do so. Without our customers, partners, former and current employees, TOPSIM would not be as we know it today. We look forward to many more decades together!