The insurance industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by digitalization, personalization, and growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, and cybersecurity in insurance documentation and data analytics, predictive risk assessment, fraud detection, and smart policy management. In the last three years alone, there have been over 9,000 patents filed and granted in the insurance industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Drones in insurance: property assessment dronesBuy the report here.

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 75,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the insurance industry, there are 25+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Property assessment drones is a key innovation area in drones

Property assessment drones refer to unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with sensors and cameras used for capturing images and data of buildings, structures, and properties. These drones assist insurers in identifying and assessing property damage, which helps in identifying risks associated with the property for accurate premium calculation, as well as estimating financial damage to the insured property during claim settlement.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 360+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established insurance companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of property assessment drones.

Key players in property assessment drones – a disruptive innovation in the insurance industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.   

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.  

Patent volumes related to property assessment drones

Company Total patents (2010 - 2022) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance 813 Unlock Company Profile
Memjet Technology 215 Unlock Company Profile
The Allstate 207 Unlock Company Profile
INRIX 124 Unlock Company Profile
Alibaba Group 111 Unlock Company Profile
Alphabet 102 Unlock Company Profile
Clearlake Capital Group 94 Unlock Company Profile
Pictometry International 89 Unlock Company Profile
The Toronto-Dominion Bank 85 Unlock Company Profile
Ping An Insurance (Group) 70 Unlock Company Profile
The Hartford Financial Services Group 60 Unlock Company Profile
Intel 56 Unlock Company Profile
USAA 54 Unlock Company Profile
Ford Motor 35 Unlock Company Profile
Advanced New Technologies 33 Unlock Company Profile
The Travelers 32 Unlock Company Profile
International Business Machines 32 Unlock Company Profile
Aon 31 Unlock Company Profile
CoreLogic 30 Unlock Company Profile
Yembo 29 Unlock Company Profile
Sonos 29 Unlock Company Profile
Lear 26 Unlock Company Profile
Swiss Re Asia Pacific 26 Unlock Company Profile
Accenture 26 Unlock Company Profile
Qomplx 23 Unlock Company Profile
Black Hills IP 23 Unlock Company Profile
Booking 22 Unlock Company Profile
VeriFone 22 Unlock Company Profile
Owl Cameras 21 Unlock Company Profile
Munchener Ruckversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft (Munich Re) 20 Unlock Company Profile
Thomson Reuters Global Resources 18 Unlock Company Profile
Theator 18 Unlock Company Profile
MetLife 17 Unlock Company Profile
EagleView Technologies 16 Unlock Company Profile
Digital Envoy 16 Unlock Company Profile
NetraDyne 16 Unlock Company Profile
Sensata Technologies 15 Unlock Company Profile
LG 14 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid of China 13 Unlock Company Profile
Verizon Patent And Licensing 13 Unlock Company Profile
Nio 12 Unlock Company Profile
Samsung Life Insurance 12 Unlock Company Profile
Nokia 12 Unlock Company Profile
Toyota Motor 11 Unlock Company Profile
Toshiba 11 Unlock Company Profile
Microsoft 11 Unlock Company Profile
Koch Industries 11 Unlock Company Profile
Swiss Re 11 Unlock Company Profile
Loveland Innovations 10 Unlock Company Profile
Zendrive 10 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Among the companies innovating in property assessment drones, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance (State Farm) is one of the leading patent filers. It filed several patents related to methods and systems of using autonomous and semi-autonomous image-capturing drones for inspecting insured properties and infrastructure. It also filed a patent for structural analysis using drone-generated 3D image data.

State Farm has been working with Virginia Tech to safely deploy drones for risk modeling and claims operations since 2018. It was granted permission by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly drones over moving vehicles for insurance purposes at the end of 2020.

The Allstate, Memjet Technology, and INRIX are some of the other leading patent filers in property assessment drones.

In terms of application diversity, Nio held the top position, while INRIX and Intel stood in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Memjet Technology leads the pack, followed by INRIX and Alphabet.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the insurance industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Insurance.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.