The Zurich Innovation Championship is open to startups worldwide tackling challenges including sustainability. With the 27 February deadline for submissions looming, Joel Agard, Group Head of Innovation at Zurich, and Antony Elliott, Group Head of Digital R&D at Zurich, tell us about this year’s championship, and what to expect from them when they head to 4YFN Barcelona next week.
What is the Zurich Innovation Championship?
The Zurich Innovation Championship is Zurich’s global startup program that was launched in 2018 and is currently in its fourth edition (kicked off in January 2023). It’s the largest global open innovation contest with startups in the insurance sector, with 30 ongoing startup collaborations worldwide resulting from the program so far.
How does it support startups?
Zurich sees innovation through collaboration as a key means to future-proof its business, since through collaboration the best of both worlds come together: Zurich with its global footprint, vast network and strong brand; and the startups with their bold thinking, fast execution and innovative solutions with the potential to transform the industry. Zurich employs “matchmaking” to match the participating startups with its business units and global functions. The joint initiatives are then evaluated by executive judges; and winning initiatives ultimately move to an accelerator phase where the startups will work closely with business unit leaders and innovation experts to rapidly validate the solution and define a joint business development plan to scale its adoption globally.
Where are previous winners making an impact?
We have seen many promising initiatives come out of the Zurich Innovation Championship. The 30 ongoing startup collaborations tackle various themes and parts of the insurance value chain. Examples range from Salient, a weather risks predictive solution capable of predicting events up to 52 weeks in advance, that has partnered up with Zurich and Zurich Santander in Brazil; to Binah.ai, which collaborates with Zurich’s digital health and wellbeing business LiveWell to provide AI-powered, video-based health and wellness monitoring solutions; and Anagog, a startup that is using Edge AI to deliver impactful services to customers without needing to have access to their private data, together with Zurich Portugal.
Why are you at 4YFN?
We know that there are many exciting startups who don’t see themselves as InsurTechs, but can add tremendous value to Zurich and our customers. We’re looking forward to presenting the Zurich Innovation Championship and meeting with many promising entrepreneurs and startups. It’s another opportunity for us to show that our program is much more than about finding the next set of winners; we look to connect with startups in the long-term and together create the future of insurance and beyond.
Apply by 27 February for your chance to secure up to US$100k in project funding.
