Efma, an association of more than 2,550 retail financial services companies in 133 countries, and Accenture announced the winners of the sixth annual Innovation in Insurance Awards.

The awards competition, which recognizes the best insurance technology innovations, attracted 460 entries from nearly 300 institutions in 55 countries.

This year’s entries reflect the intense drive among insurers to innovate to address new risks and meet changing customer needs amid continued COVID-19-related disruption.

The winners were selected across seven categories by a panel of 25 judges, including senior executives from insurers worldwide.

Each entry was assessed using three criteria: originality; strategic capacity to generate long-term competitive edge and return on investment; and adaptability for use in other markets and countries.

The winners of the Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards 2021 are:

AXA XL (USA) — received the Connected Insurance & Ecosystems 2021 award for the AXA XL Construction Ecosystem, a digital network of innovative products and services focused on advancing technology adoption among construction customers to help them reduce business risk, solve customer issues and improve business results.

Discovery (South Africa) — won the Core Insurance Transformation 2021 award for AI Quote. Using AI Quote, brokers and clients can upload a PDF or pictures of competitor insurance and investment documents via phone or desktop and receive an equivalent Discovery quote in seconds.

Generali Welion (Italy) — received the Customer Experience 2021 award for its WelionAPP. With COVID-19 putting a strain on the healthcare system in Italy, the WelionAPP helps its users more easily access health services for daily and specialized needs and book a consultation.

HITS, a Generali Group company (Switzerland) — won the Insurtech 2021 award for bAIby, an AI-based baby cry translator that recognizes a baby’s five basic needs, co-developed with Zoundream.

Baloise (Luxembourg) — was named the winner of the Product & Service Innovation 2021 award for its Drive Electric insurance, which insures electric vehicles and also provides key value-add services to help customers make the switch to electric, including assistance to set up a charging station at home, and granting access to 180,000 recharging stations across Europe.

Assicurazioni Generali (Italy) — won the Workforce Transformation 2021 award for the We SHARE App, the first app the insurer has created at the group level to reach employees worldwide.

It provides updates on a share plan for group employees, offers a financial literacy program, and provides company news.

Assicurazioni Generali was also named Global Innovator 2021 for its innovation in introducing several products, including its Smart Automation Centre of Excellence, the Vehicle Ownership Lifecycle Digital Management, and its use of AI-augmented underwriting, which uses geospatial data.

John Berry

John Berry, CEO of Efma said,

“With the pandemic, 2020 and 2021 will no doubt stand out in history as being out-of-the-ordinary years. Insurance players have had to face many challenges, requiring them to adapt their offerings and distribution models.

I congratulate the winners and all those who made submissions, demonstrating their agility in finding customer-focused solutions in a fast-evolving world.”

Featured image credit: Efma

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