Zurich Innovation Championship 2024

The Zurich Innovation Championship is a yearly program for startups and entrepreneurs with ground-breaking ideas to collaborate with us in bringing compelling products or services to our customers and employees.

We invite startups and scaleups from all stages of maturity to participate with products and solutions that are relevant to one of the defined challenges. Discover more about our latest edition participants here.

The submission window for the Zurich Innovation Championship is going to close on the February 14, 2024, at 11:59pm CET. Please make sure you have finalized and submitted your application before the above date to not lose the chance to participate in the 2024 program.

The competition is structured in two selection rounds and a validation phase.

1. Local round. The first round will take place at a country/business unit level each selecting up to 2 local winners. Startups will be screened by the Central team, then shortlisted by each country based on feedback from subject matter experts and the needs of the Business Unit.
2. Global round. The local winners will subsequently compete against each other in a global round. A jury composed of executives of Zurich Insurance will evaluate and select the startups that will enter the accelerator.
3. Validation phase. After the conclusion of our global round, a total of up to 12 winners will be chosen for participation in the validation phase to validate the initiative together with the Zurich Business that has first selected the startup.

Each startup will present their product or service that could be piloted in one of our participating countries. In the preliminary round, we want to discover:

- About your company and your team,
- The value of your product and how it differentiates from competitors,
- How relevant the product or service is to Zurich,
- How we can create value together.

Startups selected for the global round will closely collaborate with our local business units and global experts to develop a proposal for a joint initiative which would be conducted during the accelerator phase. This initiative will then be pitched to some of the most senior executives at Zurich Group level. Evidence will be sought confirming if the initiative developed by the startup and the country could scale globally and sustainably.

The global round winners will be announced in May 2024. Winners are subject to due diligence and contractual agreements initiated by Zurich.

Each of the startups selected for the acceleration phase will go through a 12-week program to mature the initiative by validating the desirability, feasibility, and viability of the hypothesis created for the global finals. This will happen in close collaboration with the Zurich business unit that has chosen the startup. Unlike a traditional accelerator, this phase will focus also on accelerating the adoption within Zurich Business worldwide. Results will be presented to a broad audience during the “demo days”. There will be financial and other resources available to validate pilots in the chosen market, exposure through our various communications channels, and recognition for some selected startups. Preliminary round winners will receive prizes and recognition determined locally. To know more about the prize, take a look at the “What can I get from the program” section of the webpage.

Startups will retain the intellectual property for their initial products and services. If a startup later collaborates with Zurich to co-develop new products or services using Zurich resources, a separate negotiation around intellectual property will take place.

Confidentiality agreements can be established between Zurich and startups that enter the program. Zurich will retain the submissions from startups as a pipeline of innovation and may contact startups for future collaboration opportunities at its discretion, regardless of whether they go through to the global final selection or not. Every startup has the right to request their submission to be completely removed from Zurich’s records and will receive confirmation of any such requests according to relevant data protection regulations. Requests for record deletion should be sent by e-mail to innovation@zurich.com.

By entering the Zurich Innovation Championship, the startups grant Zurich the right, without limitation or further permission or compensation, to retain the full content of the application(s), even if the startup is not selected as a winner of the Zurich Innovation Championship. The startup agrees that Zurich will have the right after the program, but not the obligation, in its sole discretion to contact any applicant regarding a possible business relationship with Zurich for further innovative initiatives.

By accepting the prize (What’s at stake section), winners grant Zurich the additional rights, without limitation or further permission or compensation, to use and publish their names in conjunction with the Zurich Innovation Championship.

The startup confirms to have read and understood these FAQs of the program and fully and unconditionally agree to comply with the rules described here. If the startup does not agree with any of the rules of these FAQs, they shall not register for the ZIC and shall not apply.

If you wish to exercise your statutory right to be forgotten, please contact us at innovation@zurich.com. We may ask you to provide a copy of your ID card or otherwise evidence of your identity. We will respond to your request within the applicable statutory term.