In June 2023 we had the privilege of bringing together brilliant minds and enthusiastic individuals in Barcelona for the very first Eurapco Innovation Hackathon. An Innovation Hackathon is a fast-paced and intense event that encourages participants to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions.
During this 3-day event participants tackled four different topics that currently play a crucial role within the insurance industry:
- Personal Health Improvement
- Sustainability for SME`s
- The impact of climate change on health insurance
- Healthy Home & Living
Although the program was filled with excitement and fun, there were additional goals that were accomplished through the organization of the event, which are summarized below:
- Learning: Learning innovative ways of working, how to work with different cultures and gain skills via the workshops
- New ideas: Generate new ideas which can be developed in the Eurapco Lab
- Expanding the international network
In the Hackathon learning was facilitated by Adam Royalty – founding Director and Professor of the Design Studio at Columbia University. During the programme he guided the 10 teams, coming from 9 European insurers, through the different phases of Design Thinking and supported their journey of idea generation. Next to this, the participants could visit four different workshops that helped create a different perspective on their ideas.
On the final day, the 10 teams competed for “the best business idea” by pitching their proposals to a jury of experts formed by Sylvia Eichelberg, Chair of the Executive Board at Gothaer, Dick Koopman Business Innovation Coach at Achmea, Christoph Hunziker, Head of Innovation at La Mobilière and Adam Royalty, Designer at Colombia Entrepreneurship.
This resulted in a large variety of different ideas that managed to creatively address the needs of customers. The winner of the event was Happi: an app that aims to lower the barrier of opening up about your mental health.
All in all, the event managed to teach people how to innovate on high pace in a diverse team, all while having fun and building an international network.
Don’t miss out on all the photos from the Innovation Hackathon here!
Below, you will find quotes left by the participants:
“It is a great and unique experience that is perfect for Eurapco to show its value. There is so much in this event that I cannot even begin 😃”
“The international get-together is a really important factor which can help all mutual insurance companies to lead the way to future customer needs and creating value”
“Having fun while learning new skills, connecting with other nationalities and companies is really important.”
“It was really great to network with a lot of (international) people. For me it was the first time creating an idea in such a short time and it was a nice experience to see that it was possible with design thinking in that short time. Thank you for the organisation!”
