Driving the Future: insights and inspiration at the Generali Innovation Gathering 2024

Fostering innovation is not just about finding solutions; it is about inspiring and being inspired, creating a ripple effect that drives us to innovate better and faster.

That was the goal at the heart of the Generali Innovation Gathering which took place in Paris on November 6th and 7^th. It brought together over 100 participants from all over the world to promote collaboration, continuous learning, and the sharing of best practices with the ultimate goal of accelerating Innovation and better serve our Lifetime Partner Ambition.

Taking place at our HealthTech accelerator Future4Care, the event was organized by the Group Innovation team in collaboration with Generali France’s Innovation colleagues; it was an invaluable opportunity to:

The event opened with a welcome speech by Emanuele Colonnella, Innovation Lead from the Group Innovation team, followed by team-building activities that encouraged networking and connections. The agenda then moved to the Generali Innovation Portfolio Showcase, with stage presentations of a selection of initiatives supported by the Innovation Fund, setting the stage for discussions on their potential impact and future opportunities of scaling up.

These included some state-of-the-art AI applications like Giada (Custom Generative AI RAG) & Smart Gallery (AI Computer Vision for claims), presented by Antonio Montuschi (Head of GenAI, Group Advanced Anaytics team); Mistral (Climate Risk Prevention), presented by Didier Cadic (Head of Innovation Generali France); and Generali Health Solutions, which simplifies access to healthcare for everyone, presented by Markus Homann (Generali Germany).

During the day, participants also had the opportunity to visit the Innovation Booths: divided into teams, they navigated a designated area, where a selection of colleagues, startups, and partners presented their solutions and answered questions.

The second day kicked off with a welcome message by Danilo Raponi, Group Head of Innovation, who opened up for some remarks from key leaders including Jean-Laurent Granier, CEO of Generali France, and Cécile Paillard, our new Chief Transformation Officer. 

Next followed some Keynote Talks which saw the participation of Emmanuel Néré, Head of Strategic Transformation and Innovation, who presented on Future4Care, Generali’s HealthTech accelerator success story; Drew Aldrich, Founder and Managing Partner, and Ori Ben-Yishai, Partner at Viewpoint Ventures, who spoke on AI: From Theory to Application; and Javier Sánchez, VC at Mundi Ventures, who delivered a talk on HealthTech Meets InsurTech: Driving Proactive Change Through Technology. 

There was also an in-depth exploration of the key insights and ideas shared in the previous sessions, to examine their impact and future implications. This session was moderated by Filippo Maria Stefani, Group Open Innovation & Venture Capital Manager, with contributions from Lluís Viñas Fernandez, Investment Director of Alma Mundi Ventures; Yannick Menel, Country Manager, Future4Care; Luca Russignan, Head of Insurance of Capgemini Research Institute for Financial Services; and Carloaugusto Mironici, CEO of Generali Engagement Solutions.

The event also provided an opportunity for Best Practices Sharing with presentations by Didier Cadic about the France Innovation Team Case Study and Ruth Armale (CEO of HITS) on our CorpUp (StartUp co-creation studio) House of InsurTech Switzerland.

The event closed with a short ceremony rewarding colleagues who distinguished themselves during the team building activities held over the two days.

A big thank you to everyone who joined and contributed to this intense two-day celebration of innovation sharing!