Cookhouse x Humber College — “Insurance, Innovation & Design Thinking” Lecture [Oct 3]

We hosted the fantastic Insurance Management post-grad students from Humber College at our downtown Toronto Lab space. Our Program Director, Ibeth Ramos Ayala, provided a tour of the Lab to our young guests and delivered an engaging session on “Insurance, Innovation, and Design Thinking”. 
 
A big thank-you to our student innovators and Humber College Program Coordinator, John A.F. McNeil, M.Ed, CIP, for joining us — we can’t wait to see you co-create at our upcoming WinterHack 2022: College & University Design Thinking Ideathon this November! 

Trend Hunter — Future Party 2022 [Sep 27]

We’re proud to be a chosen part of the Future Festival World Summit 2022, where we ran an innovation jam and facilitated a live Design Thinking co-creation immersive experience for attendees.

CxO InsurTech Summit 2022 [Sep 8]

CxO InsurTech Summit 2022 [Sep 8]

Our Program Director, Ibeth Ramos Ayala, was invited to speak about the basics of human-centered design and how to begin developing insurance products that truly meet your customers’ needs.

Location

Online, Virtual

Innovation Snack: Sustainability in Insurance — Global Ideation Session  [Oct 12] 

With recent alarming headlines around climate change, it has become more critical than ever for insurers to play our part and shift towards more sustainable practices. 
 
But what does ‘sustainability’ mean for the insurance industry? 
 
We’re exploring this question in our ongoing “Sustainability in Insurance” initiative, where we invite insurers from all around the world to share their ideas on how to make an impactful change in the following 3 areas: 

  1. Making and Implementing Practical Sustainability Changes  
  1. Increasing Awareness Around Sustainability to Incentivize Stakeholder Action  
  1. Establishing Sustainable Business Propositions and Transparency   

Join us for a 30-minute Innovation Snack ideation session, facilitated by our Lead Innovation Coach, Ibeth Ramos Ayala, who has trained in Design Thinking at Harvard and MIT and brings 10+ years of innovation experience to the industry! 

DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 2022 
TIME: 10 AM – 10:30 AM EDT 
LOCATION: Virtual, Worldwide 
FEE: Free for the community! 

WinterHack 2022: Q&A session [Sep 28]

Interested in joining this year’s WinterHack 2022 — a friendly innovation competition between colleges and universities?

Join our upcoming Q&A session to learn more about the event format, expected outcome, and exciting prizes!

DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 2022
TIME: 12:30 – 1 PM EDT
LOCATION: Virtual

Event Format  

  • 2 day virtual global event + 3 hour final pitch  
  • Facilitated ideathon following Design Thinking methodology in breakout sessions   
  • Ideathon period: Wednesday, November 16th and Thursday, November 17th, 2022  
  • The 2-day ideathon period will be held from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM EST.  
  • Final Pitch Event: Friday, November 18th at 11 AM EST  

Questions? 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Insiya Meherally, our Community Manager, at insiya.meherally@cookhouselabs.com! 

THIA Innovation Summit [Oct 19]

Back by popular demand, THIA is hosting its popular Innovation Summit in person this fall in downtown Toronto.

Join us on Wednesday, October 19th at Cookhouse Labs in Downtown Toronto from 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM EST for this one-day event to explore the leading edges of technology, business and insurance advancements, while meeting other travel health insurance movers, shakers, and doers. The all-day Innovation Summit will feature multiple keynote speakers, panel discussions, and a startup showcase of the next wave of insurance services. There will also be several opportunities to network with your peers throughout the day.

Some of our confirmed speakers are:

Erin Bury, Co-Founder and CEO at Willful — Erin has been named one of Bay Street Bull’s “2021 Women of the Year”. Her company, Willful, offers a platform that has helped thousands of Canadians create their estate plan online simply, easily, and for a more affordable price than a traditional estate lawyer. Erin is also a startup advisor and former marketer and technology journalist. Speaking about “How Technology Is Changing Legacy Industries (And Processes) From the Ground Up”, Erin will share insights into the key trends shaping digital transformation, highlight case studies of companies in legacy industries that are embracing the digital shift and illustrate how legacy processes are being transformed by technology

Neal Jardine, Global Cyber Risk Intelligence & Claims Director, BOXX Insurance Inc. — Neal has combined a decade of commercial insurance adjusting skills with a Computer Science degree to become a leader in executing best practices in cyber risk management, post-cyber-attack mitigation and cyber claim management. As Global Cyber Risk Intelligence and Claims Director for BOXX Insurance, he is a recognized leader in the complexities of responding to cyber attacks, including ransomware negotiation, privacy breach and data loss, and assists a wide range of industries to understand pre- and post-loss management and response to cyber events.

Mark Morissette, CEO & Co-Founder, Foxquilt — Mark’s company Foxquilt is an insurance technology company established to address a common problem for small business providers: having access to customized insurance solutions at a fair value. Foxquilt’s technology and products empower small businesses and B2B networks to build their own a la carte product at a fair value and price in minutes. The company’s Insurance-as-a-Service platform is complemented by a unique data and machine learning underwriting infrastructure.

High-Level Agenda:

  • Breakfast & Opening Remarks
  • Keynote: Erin Bury, Willful – How Technology Is Changing Legacy Industries (And Processes) From the Ground Up
  • Coffee Break
  • Presentation: Neal Jardine, Boxx Insurance
  • Presentation: Mark Morissette, Foxquilt
  • Lunch
  • Presentation: Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)
  • Presentation: Mitch Gross, 12 Squared Growth
  • Afternoon Break
  • Presentation: Mike Delorme, Manulife
  • Startup Pitch Program
  • Closing Remarks

MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND SECURE YOUR SPOT TODAY to learn from some of business’s brightest minds about their experiences, predictions and aspirations for the next wave of innovative advancement in our industry.

Pricing:

THIA Members:

  • $150 – Early Bird Pricing – (Extended through September 16th, 2022)
  • $200 – Regular Pricing (September 17th, 2022 onward)

Non-Members

  • $200 – Early Bird Pricing – (Extended through September 16th, 2022)
  • $250 – Regular Pricing – (September 17th, 2022 onward)

Thank you to our sponsors. If your company would like to sponsor THIA’s Innovation Summit, please contact Ryan Lee at ryan.lee@globalexcel.com.

Innovation Snack: Sustainability in Insurance — Global Ideation Session  [Aug 24] 

With recent alarming headlines around climate change, it has become more critical than ever for insurers to play our part and shift towards more sustainable practices. 
 
But what does ‘sustainability’ mean for the insurance industry? 
 
We’re exploring this question in our ongoing “Sustainability in Insurance” initiative, where we invite insurers from all around the world to share their ideas on how to make an impactful change in the following 3 areas: 

  1. Making and Implementing Practical Sustainability Changes  
  1. Increasing Awareness Around Sustainability to Incentivize Stakeholder Action  
  1. Establishing Sustainable Business Propositions and Transparency   

Join us for a 30-minute Innovation Snack ideation session, facilitated by our Lead Innovation Coach, Ibeth Ramos Ayala, who has trained in Design Thinking at Harvard and MIT and brings 10+ years of innovation experience to the industry! 

DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 2022 
TIME: 11:30 AM – 12 PM EDT 
LOCATION: Virtual, Worldwide 
FEE: Free for the community! 

WinterHack 2022: Final Pitch Event [Nov 18]

Cookhouse Labs is delighted to announce the return of WinterHack, this time with a brand-new ideathon format focused on young talent!  

This year’s ideathon aims to provide a space for students and university/college insurance programs to show their talent, knowledge and skills related to Creativity, Innovation and passion to #MakeInsuranceBetter. This is a friendly competition between universities and colleges – are you ready to represent your organization? 

In partnership with the Insurance Institute of Canada and Humber College, WinterHack 2022 is open to North American universities and colleges as an opportunity to showcase their innovative young minds and for students and staff members to learn/apply the principles of Design Thinking to real-world business challenges.  

This year’s theme is #MakeInsuranceBetter, and we can’t wait to see what our teams come up with! 

Each institution can register 1 team to represent them — with limited spots, be sure to secure your team’s spot as soon as possible! 


 

WinterHack 2022: Global Design Thinking Ideathon [Nov 16-17]

Cookhouse Labs is delighted to announce the return of WinterHack, this time with a brand-new ideathon format focused on young talent!  

This year’s ideathon aims to provide a space for students and university/college insurance programs to show their talent, knowledge and skills related to Creativity, Innovation and passion to #MakeInsuranceBetter. This is a friendly competition between universities and colleges – are you ready to represent your organization? 

In partnership with the Insurance Institute of Canada and Humber College, WinterHack 2022 is open to North American universities and colleges as an opportunity to showcase their innovative young minds and for students and staff members to learn/apply the principles of Design Thinking to real-world business challenges.  

This year’s theme is #MakeInsuranceBetter, and we can’t wait to see what our teams come up with! 

Each institution can register 1 team to represent them — with limited spots, be sure to secure your team’s spot as soon as possible! 

Event Format  

  • 2 day virtual global event + 3 hour final pitch  
  • Facilitated ideathon following Design Thinking methodology in breakout sessions   
  • Ideathon period: Wednesday, November 16th and Thursday, November 17th, 2022  
  • The 2-day ideathon period will be held from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM EST.  
  • Final Pitch Event: Friday, November 18th at 11 AM EST  

Questions? 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Insiya Meherally, our Community Manager, at insiya.meherally@cookhouselabs.com! 

Posted on

SummerHack 2022: “Artificial Intelligence” Winning Solution

Innovation Project Summary Cookhouse LabS

SummerHack 2022: “Artificial Intelligence” Winning Solution

Whether it’s underwriting, claims, or even fraud detection, AI offers the potential to improve efficiencies, minimize costs, and predict customer needs well in advance.

2

DAYS

ONLINE

2022

15

TEAMS

14

MVPs

Challenges

Under the theme “Artificial Intelligence”, we asked our global teams to choose from the following four challenges and ideate a real business solution using the Design Thinking methodology:

Financial Literacy

How might we use AI to help customers better understand their financial needs and choose the right products?

Risk Mitigation

How might we use AI to nudge customers to change their behavior to avoid or lower claims overall?

Inclusive Insurance

How might we use AI to develop and distribute inclusive insurance products to emerging markets?

Customer Experience

How might we use AI to build trust in insurance amongst our customers?

WHY?

Understanding Li, a 50-year-old, married entrepreneur leading his own
clothing export company, has two children and lives in Guangzhou

With limited time on hand, Team HSBC decided to take
on the challenge of
supporting customers in better understanding their financial needs, as currently it is easy to miss out on a chance to invest, manage debt, climb onto the property ladder and save for – and eventually enjoy – retirement.

PAINS (COMMON)

  • Current financial products seem generic for his needs
  • Feels too embarrassed to ask for help in understanding the financial jargon

GAINS (COMMON)

  • Support in time management and finding answers quickly
  • Access to someone who can fill his knowledge gap

Flexible membership options

See Options

DISCOVERY

Financial planners need support in rapport building and better knowledge of the financial products they are responsible for, in order to enhance trust building and better support clients like Mr Li.

How can we leverage an AI and knowledge base to take on some of these coaching tasks to scale up the quality of the PFP? This will free up the human coaching team to focus on the highest value activities and be more proactive, rather than reactive.

SOLUTION

The team ideated several solutions to support new advisors and selected the final AI-based coaching solution to guide planners in real-time through each step of the journey.

How might we use AI to provide real-time coaching support to enhance the advisors’ capabilities (especially inexperienced ones), in order to improve the quality of information, answers, and advice provided to our clients?

MEET EJAMES

An AI-based tool that helps advisors, especially inexperienced ones, with real time information, guidance, and advice during client interactions.

eJames is present during client conversations and ready to help advisors have “smarter” conversations! eJames listens to conversations between advisors and clients, and in real-time identifies topics and questions in the conversation.

The AI tool constantly filters and ranks these topics throughout the conversation and leverages a knowledge bank to identify industry insights relevant to these topics. eJames sends suggestions and content back to the advisor in real-time on their screen to help with the conversation.

In simple: eJames is the “Alexa” for financial planning!

Ready to innovate?

Search Events

RESULTS

At the end of the 2-day ideathon, 13 global teams pitched their ideas to our panel of experts.

95+

Participants

4

Continents

4

Judges

14

Participating Teams

366

Solutions Proposed 

13

Solutions Presented

1

Winner

200+

Audience Members

PARTICIPANTS

More Co-creation Sprints

Our test kitchen has cooked-up new customer-centric solutions to industry problems and challenges through rounds of innovation sprints with our global community. Check out the results!

Find Out More

We also offer intro sessions that provide insurance professionals with the opportunity to experience our Cookhouse Labs methodology and a sneak peek at what it’s like to co-create and collaborate with our global community. If you are not a Cookhouse Labs member and are interested in finding out more, check out our membership benefits!

BECOME A MEMBER