Zurich Innovation Championship returns with fifth edition

Zurich Innovation Championship returns with fifth edition | Insurance Business New Zealand

Technology

Zurich Innovation Championship returns with fifth edition

Global contest the largest open innovation program for startups in the industry

Technology

By
Terry Gangcuangco

Zurich Insurance Group’s Zurich Innovation Championship is back for its fifth edition.

Described as the biggest open innovation contest for startups in the industry, the Zurich Innovation Championship has attracted over 8,000 submissions since its launch in 2018. More than 50 startup collaborations are ongoing as a result of the global program.

“Building on the success of the first four editions, which have led to over 50 ongoing collaborations, our program continues to evolve and grow its impact,” group chief strategy officer Paolo Mantero said in a release. “This makes me even more excited for this year’s edition and the initiatives we will see come out of it as a result.”

The categories for 2024 are commercial insurance, digital simplification, life & health, and retail property & casualty. A total of 10 winners will be selected.

Startups and scaleups from all stages of maturity can apply until February 14, with the global round winners to be announced in May and the Innovation Demo Day happening in September.

“Each of the startups selected for the acceleration phase will go through a 12-week program to mature the initiative by validating the desirability, feasibility, and viability of the hypothesis created for the global finals,” Zurich noted.

“This will happen in close collaboration with the Zurich business unit that has chosen the startup. Unlike a traditional accelerator, this phase will focus also on accelerating the adoption within Zurich Business worldwide.”

Ericson Chan, group chief information and digital officer at Zurich, believes they are “redefining insurance at the dawn of hyper-innovation” by joining forces with top innovators and startups.