Last week, we wrapped up our first ever virtual WinterHack 2020: Global Design Thinking Ideathon. We were delighted to partner with InsurLab Germany and msg to bring this exciting event to life! After months of planning and preparation, we kicked the event off on November 3rd in 3 different continents with 12 different re/insurance organizations. At the end of the 2-day ideathon, our teams competed in an exciting Final Pitch Event to blow our global panel of judges away with their disruptive solutions, and boy, did they succeed!
In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the global ideathon and highlights from the 3-day event:
A truly diverse and global event
We ran the ideathon in 3 different regions (APAC, EMEA, and the Americas) with 85+ participants from all over the world who spoke 12 different languages. Our insurers partnered to form 11 insurance teams that consisted of a diverse mix of re/insurers, brokers, startups, vendors, and student innovators. Some of our teams even comprised of members who were continents apart — now, that’s true global collaboration!
Announcing our “Digital Ecosystems” challenges
Our kickoff events were full of energy and excitement, hosted by Lead Facilitator Ibeth Ramos and Co-Founder Sven Roehl. At the kickoff events, we announced our 4 “Digital Ecosystems” challenges:
- Reduce Loneliness
How might we develop a solution/service offering to reduce social isolation or loneliness of elderly people? - Building Inspection
How might we develop a highly automated service/solution for building inspection of commercial properties? - Subscription Model
How might we develop a new subscription-based business model of insurance built on Digital Ecosystems? - Understanding Insurance
How might we develop a solution/service allowing customers to fully understand the personal risk and coverage situation?
Together, the teams counted down the final seconds and off they went to tackle their chosen challenge!
Design Thinking — our innovation compass
We challenged our teams to use Design Thinking as a compass to guide their innovation journeys. To help our teams prepare, our Innovation Experts created an Introduction to Design Thinking Masterclass and a prep guide titled “WinterHack 2020: A Guide to Disrupting Insurance in Just 2 Days”. We wanted to provide our teams with support during the event, and to achieve this, we scheduled regular breakout sessions with our Innovation Team to walk our participants through the Design Thinking stages in more detail and to answer questions from our teams. Since these breakout sessions were run in 3 different time zones, our facilitation team delivered trainings at all hours of the day (and night)! From 8pm EST on Monday, November 2nd until 6pm EST on Wednesday, November 4th, our Zoom lines were shut down for 2 only hours — the rest of the time, the Cookhouse Labs team was online and continuously available!
The big reveal
On November 5th, we brought our global innovators together for a combined Final Pitch Event, attended by members of our innovation community. We were delighted to welcome leaders from across the world as members of our jury panel! On our panel, we had:
- Bernd Scharrer, COO Operations / IT at VHV Holding AG
- Emily Hill, Manager, Strategy & Planning at TD Insurance
- Gil Arazi, Founder and Managing Partner, FinTLV Ventures
- Kayte Fredrickson, Vice President, Insurance at Ontario Medical Association
- Manisha Dias, Assistant Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at SCOR
- Max Bachem, Head of Corporate Development, Innovation, Strategic Partnerships & Venture Capital at AXA
- Sven Roehl, Co-Founder of Cookhouse Labs
- Thomas Börtzler, Chief Innovation Officer at Munich Re Canada
- Torsten Oletzky, Professor of Strategy and Process Management at Cologne University of Applied Sciences
Our judges were amazed at the creative and well-designed solutions our teams revealed! All of our teams focused on helping customers understand their insurance policies better or on supporting senior citizens as they combat loneliness. Each team shared a unique approach to tackle these challenges through AI, mobile apps, tablets, and sensory devices. At the end of the event, the judges deliberated on the winners and returned with the big announcement:
- Winning Team: Hannover Re and EMIL Group Gmbh
- Runner-Up: Munich Re Canada
Our winning team took home a 6 months Cookhouse Labs membership, and will enjoy free access to a variety of open co-creation projects, Masterclasses, global pop-up Labs, and support from our Certified Innovation Experts! Our runner-up won tickets to insureNXT|CGN courtesy of InsurLab Germany, a new congress fair with the goal to develop new business models by connecting traditional insurers, start-ups and cross industry partners.
We want to congratulate all of our teams for conquering WinterHack 2020! We were blown away by the creative ideas, dedication, and hard work from all of you. Every idea pitched at the Final Pitch Event has the potential to disrupt the insurance industry and we can’t wait to see what you achieve next!
A big thank you to our partners, teams, judges, and community members for your continued support and enthusiasm for our global innovation event. Your excitement encourages us to dream bigger on our journey to #MakeInsuranceBetter and we look forward to seeing you at SummerHack 2021!
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