70676Virtualising Innovation Labs: Moving a leading innovation platform online to accelerate UK insurers' digital transformation through the use of Tech ventures.ClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKUK insurers underwrite £252 billion (Euro 315 Billion) of gross written premiums (GWP) or 6.5% of a global GWP total of nearly £4 trillion. Yet, as the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, only a few market players were able to provide responsive discounts, rebates or premium payment deferrals to customers. Indeed, many were unable to support customers, employees or trusted partners due to the complexity of legacy operations and ease the deployment of such fundamental changes as such disaster recovery plans were never considered. This did not demonstrate a lack of will though, but rather, a lack of operational resilience underpinned by insufficient digital adoption. Covid-19 puts a spotlight on these insurers and their issues. In the post-Covid world, insurers that cannot respond quickly or innovate continuously on digital platforms will struggle. Such insurers now face a narrower timetable for revamping outdated operations, processes and structures and future-proofing their businesses for future challenges. And they must do this in an environment where virtual working will have become the norm. This project establishes a replicable framework to consistently deliver next-generation Virtual Innovation Labs (also called Venture Validation Studios) to support them. Based on established methods and practices already developed for Insurance and a range of other industries, it will now make these otherwise 'high-touch' and location-dependent approaches available virtually or online. The solution will provide a platform, method, and technological tools for evaluating emerging technologies transparently and deploying innovative solutions in weeks rather than months, short-cutting lengthy approval channels in favour of prototyping and even for transforming old business models longer term. This initiative intends to engage UK's leading insurers and a wide range of innovative startups in online, high-impact engagement cycles to build, test and refine this virtual approach to innovation. The work will see this relationship through to agreed plans and next steps to scale the model across the insurance sector to start with, whether they involve the integration of specific tools or broader partnership for more profound transformation. We learnt from working with one leading UK insurer that the issue is real and deep. Our opportunity is to deploy our virtual framework and scale it across business units, department and geographical units.