MAPFRE opens insur_space, part of its Open Innovation platform
MAPFRE has unveiled “insur_space,” its new insurtech startup accelerator based in Madrid created to develop new solutions to meet the needs of different client types, which can then be incorporated into MAPFRE’s strategic business in the mid-term.
The company confirmed that insur_space is one of the pillars of the MAPFRE Open Innovation platform launched this year to drive innovation both at MAPFRE and within the insurance industry.
“Our objective with Moi is to become a global benchmark in innovation in insurtech and to progress toward the new business models and solutions emerging from the digital and technological changes we are witnessing,” said MAPFRE CEO Antonio Huertas during the presentation of the new space.
With this in mind, MAPFRE will allocate more than 100 million euros each year to the development of innovative insurance-related solutions, which when combined with the more than 600 million-euro annual technology investment, thereby ensuring that the company is adequately positioned to tackle new challenges and transform its value proposition, it confirmed.
MAPFRE Open Innovation combines a set of innovation and transformation levers through two main elements: Strategic Innovation and Disruptive Innovation. A Transformation and Innovation Committee has been created to coordinate and oversee MOi, headed by Huertas.
This committee will define the main courses of action, design related projects and monitor and oversee their execution. At the helm of MOi is José Antonio Arias, chief innovation officer for MAPFRE.
insur_space falls within Disruptive Innovation, which is led by Josep Celaya, global head of transformation at MAPFRE. This new active collaboration space facilitates the development of new ideas, concepts and products, and will conduct pilots and tests, all under the mentorship of MAPFRE experts, with access to real data from our international markets.
The program reflects MAPFRE’s commitment to developing disruptive solutions that generate a positive impact on our business and on society, it added.
A total of 19 startups are already working in insur_space through two development programs: acceleration and adoption. The first focuses on helping entrepreneurs with an innovative idea to get their business model off the ground, while the second is aimed at startups that already have a mature proposal and need help and mentoring to consolidate their business.
Disruptive innovation also includes a collaborative model with universities and business schools for the joint development of innovative projects, as well as an investment vehicle for teaming up with private equity companies that invest in innovation in the insurance world.
In connection with this, MAPFRE recently announced its participation as an anchor investor in the “Alma Mundi Insurtech Fund, FCRE” private equity fund, focusing exclusively on the insurtech space, in which MAPFRE will invest 25 million euros.
Strategic Innovation, headed by Miguel Angel Rodríguez-Cobos, works to find short-term solutions to the challenges posed by MAPFRE’s strategic initiatives, and has a network of innovation offices spanning MAPFRE’s main businesses and areas.
MAPFRE’s intrapreneurship program, innova, also falls within strategic innovation. The initiative is aimed at company employees who form teams of two or three people to present innovative ideas for the company to execute, with the company providing the necessary resources for employees to build out the winning solutions.
The decision has also been made to integrate MAPFRE’s Center for Experimentation and Road Safety (CESVIMAP) into the MAPFRE Open Innovation program. CESVIMAP has been a global benchmark for research into vehicular damage accident repair methodologies for several years, the company confirmed.
CESVIMAP is at the cutting-edge of research in the automobile sector, and its integration into MOi represents a unique opportunity to act as MAPFRE’s R&D center in connection with the insurance business and automobile-related services, as well general mobility.
