It’s almost time to kickoff SummerHack 2022: Global Insurance Design Thinking Ideathon!
This global event brings together InsurTech experts and innovators from all over the world for 2 days of exciting insurance innovation and friendly competition. Our teams will tackle challenges related to the theme “Artificial Intelligence”, and under the guidance and support of our Certified Innovation Experts, use Design Thinking to develop creative solutions to present to our esteemed panel of judges at the Final Pitch Event!
To help you prepare for our upcoming virtual Ideathon, we’ve put together this quick guide on how to disrupt the insurance industry using Design Thinking in time for the big deadline!
Before We Begin
If you’re new to Design Thinking, visit “Introduction to Design Thinking”, where we describe the concept behind the methodology and the stages involved.
How to Use Design Thinking at SummerHack 2022
While the Design Thinking stages may sound time-consuming, it’s possible to walk through each of them within a short timeframe. As a reminder, our Innovation Team will be available via regular check-in calls during the event to answer any questions and provide support on how to follow Design Thinking to develop impactful solutions. Please note that each check-in calls will be held between 9 AM to 5 PM in three different time zones — Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), Central European Summer Time (CEST), and Singapore Time (SGT).
So, how can you use Design Thinking to create a winning solution in just 2 days?
Below, we share a quick guide on how you can structure your time according to the stages in the Design Thinking methodology to help you conquer SummerHack 2022 and blow our judges away!
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
10:45 AM – Empathize
At 10:00 AM, the Cookhouse Labs team will announce our “Artificial Intelligence” challenges and you will have 2 days to create your solution for your chosen challenge!
You will have 45 minutes to discuss the challenge statements with your team and select 1 that you will tackle over the course of 2 days.
After you select your challenge, your Design Thinking journey begins with the first stage, Empathize. This is where you will begin to understand your target group, which can be done in 2 ways: internet research and interviews with your persona. You can’t create a customer-centric solution without putting yourself in the shoes of the customer, and a good way to do this is to speak directly with the potential customer and listen.
Deliverables: By the end of this stage, you will have:
- An Empathy Map to help you visualize how the user thinks/feels and documents their pain points
- Your Persona, a character that represents the type of customer/user of your solution. For example, in our last project about mitigating small business bankruptcy, we created the persona of Fiona, a small business owner in Toronto
1st Check-In: Our Innovation Experts will be available from 10:45 AM to 11:15 AM!
2:00 PM – Define
The next stage focuses on constructing a point of view based on the user’s needs. Here, you will take time to reflect on what the user has shared with you and to visualize their experience. By doing so, you can define what problem you are trying to solve based on your persona’s main needs and pain points, which will help you shape a better experience for the user.
Deliverables: By the end of this stage, you will have:
- A Journey Map, which is a narrative of your user’s steps to accomplish a specific goal. This is mapped out in 2 layers: a timeline of the user’s actions and their thoughts/emotions while completing each task. You want to identify areas where the user encounters obstacles or barriers along their journey
- How Might We (HMW) statement, a brief statement presented in form of a question that clarifies the actual problem you are focusing on based on the Journey Map and identifies the benefits and gains the solution. In the same project about bankruptcy mitigation, our team created 20 HMW statements and selected, “How might we reduce the risk of financial impact of current economic events?” and as they moved through interviews and customer journey the focus of their project became “How might we use the Internet of Things to assist small business owners with their Financial management, improve profitability and reduce bankruptcy?”. (Notice the benefits and gains in bold)
2nd Check-In: Our Innovation Experts will be available from 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM!
4:30 PM – Design
After selecting a single HMW statement to focus on, it’s time to ideate! This stage is all about connecting to your inner child and using your imagination to come up with multiple solutions to the problem your team identified. Quantity is important here, so remember to list as many possibilities as you can!
Deliverables: By the end of this stage, you will have:
- Multiple possible solutions to tackle the challenge in various timeframes
- A chosen idea to begin prototyping!
3rd Check-In: Our Innovation Experts will be available from 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM!
5 PM – Networking
At the end of Day 1, participants are invited to join us for an hour of networking with other innovators and our jury panel!
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
11:00 AM – Create
From 9 AM to 11 AM, you will have time to continue the Design phase and ideate as many solutions as possible to your chosen challenge.
Once your team has voted on a winning idea, you are now ready to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). You will begin by creating a low-fidelity prototype, which could take the form of a sketch, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation.
Deliverables: By the end of this stage, you will have:
- A sketch of your Lo-Fi prototype to help visualize and test the solution
4th Check-In: Our Innovation Experts will be available from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM!
2:30 PM – Presentation
In a little over 2 hours, you will submit your final solution!
At this time, you should begin to practice your pitch and prepare any materials required (such as PowerPoint slides). Remember, you will have to submit a 4-minute video of your pitch to play for our panel of judges, who will ask you follow-up questions right after!
Deliverables: By the end of this stage, you will have:
- Submitted your pitch video on our platform, including a brief description and all supporting materials
- Prepared for questions from our judges at our Final Pitch Event beginning at 8:00 AM EDT
5th Check-In: Our Innovation Experts will be available from 2:30 PM to 3 PM!
5 PM – Networking
At the end of Day 2, we will hold another open networking session for participants and judges to come together to celebrate crossing the finish line!
To provide even further support, our Innovation Team has prepared an Introduction to Design Thinking Masterclass series to introduce you to the methodology and help you prepare before the event. On the day of the event, you will have access to our experts during the innovation check-in sessions where you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you have after watching the Masterclasses.
And with that, you are now ready to disrupt the insurance industry!
We wish all our teams the best of luck for SummerHack 2022! We invite our community members to join the Final Pitch Event on Thursday, May 12th at 8:00 AM EDT to see the exciting solutions our teams of insurers, startups, and student innovators develop.
To receive an invite, please register here.