The insurance industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by growing demand for digitalisation and personalisation. With growing importance of technologies such as telematics, machine learning, big data, deep learning, and data science, insurers are overcoming demographic challenges, low penetration rates, cybercrimes and fraudulent claims. In the last three years alone, there have been over 11,000 patents filed and granted in the insurance industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Cybersecurity in Insurance: Fraud detection techniques. Buy the report here.
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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
90 innovations will shape the insurance industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the insurance industry using innovation intensity models built on over 65,000 patents, there are 90 innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, property maintenance sensor networks and automated data annotation are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Fall detection sensing alarms, vehicle motion estimation, and building design risk analysis are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are trip metering-based insurance and real-time fault monitoring systems which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the insurance industry
Fraud detection techniques is a key innovation area in insurance
Fraud detection refers to the methods and analytics that enable firms to detect and prevent unlawful financial activity. This can include unauthorised use of credit cards, identity theft, computer hacking, insurance fraud, and other issues. Businesses are implementing fraud detection techniques in websites, corporate guidelines, employee development programmes, and improved security features to prevent suspicious activities.
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 10+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established insurance companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of fraud detection techniques.
Key players in fraud detection techniques – a disruptive innovation in the insurance industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to fraud detection techniques
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Flex | 49 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Allstate | 28 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| SoftBank Group | 23 | Unlock Company Profile |
| CVS Health | 10 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Accenture | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Integratto | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Taikang Insurance Group | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Swiss Re Asia Pacific | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Pearl | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Fidelity National Information Services | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Cerebri AI | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| PetSure (Australia) | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Starlight Company | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| International Business Machines | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Accenture is one of the leading patent filers in fraud detection techniques. Their technology categorises website visitors based on how they transition between different user activity categories on an individual basis. The computing device divides the numerous users into at least two unique groups based on an analysis of their event transition matrices, and then executes one or more actions on the user accounts on the website based on user activity. Some other key patent filers in the fraud detection industry include Flex, Allstate, Ping An Insurance, and SoftBank Group.
In terms of application diversity, Allstate leads the pack, with Pearl and Flex in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Swiss Re Asia Pacific holds the top position, followed by PetSure and Accenture.
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.
