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 Artificial intelligence in insurance: insurance documentation AI. Buy the report here.

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 stabilizing 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.

25+ 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 75,000 patents, there are 25+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Within the emerging innovation stage, repair estimation AI, treatment expense prediction and underwriting AI are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Smart policy management, AI in driver risk profiling and smart vehicle damage assessment are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas is automated weather forecasting, which is now well established in the industry.

Innovation S-curve for artificial intelligence in the insurance industry

Insurance documentation AI is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence

Insurance documentation AI refers to the use of artificial intelligence technologies and techniques to automate and enhance the processes involved in insurance documentation. It involves the application of machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision to efficiently and accurately generate, analyze, and manage insurance-related forms, documents, and data.

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 80+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established insurance companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of insurance documentation AI.

Key players in insurance documentation AI – 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 insurance documentation AI

Company Total patents (2010 - 2022) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
Ping An Insurance (Group) 116 Unlock Company Profile
Tractable 47 Unlock Company Profile
The Hartford Financial Services Group 45 Unlock Company Profile
Paperclip 13 Unlock Company Profile
Aon 12 Unlock Company Profile
International Business Machines 11 Unlock Company Profile
Taikang Insurance Group 11 Unlock Company Profile
KBC Group 11 Unlock Company Profile
LyondellBasell Industries 10 Unlock Company Profile
Addepar 10 Unlock Company Profile
Accenture 9 Unlock Company Profile
China Ping An Property and Casualty 9 Unlock Company Profile
Baidu 7 Unlock Company Profile
The Allstate 7 Unlock Company Profile
Fivecast 6 Unlock Company Profile
The Progressive 6 Unlock Company Profile
Leonard Green & Partners 6 Unlock Company Profile
Berkshire Hathaway 6 Unlock Company Profile
China Investment 6 Unlock Company Profile
The People's Insurance (Group) 5 Unlock Company Profile
The Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation 5 Unlock Company Profile
Alibaba Group 5 Unlock Company Profile
Capital One Financial 5 Unlock Company Profile
Ant Group 5 Unlock Company Profile
Zhong An Online P&C Insurance 4 Unlock Company Profile
The Travelers 4 Unlock Company Profile
Munchener Ruckversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft (Munich Re) 4 Unlock Company Profile
Ping An Healthcare And Technology 3 Unlock Company Profile
MedImpact 3 Unlock Company Profile
Microsoft 3 Unlock Company Profile
Cincinnati Financial 3 Unlock Company Profile
First American Financial 3 Unlock Company Profile
Vouch 3 Unlock Company Profile
FP Alpha, 2 Unlock Company Profile
Inspur Financial Information Technology 2 Unlock Company Profile
DataInfoCom USA 2 Unlock Company Profile
Beijing Youquan Zhihui Information Technology 2 Unlock Company Profile
Hippo 2 Unlock Company Profile
AppOne 2 Unlock Company Profile
Lufax 2 Unlock Company Profile
China Life Insurance (Group) 2 Unlock Company Profile
Benchmark Digital Partners 2 Unlock Company Profile
Samsung Life Insurance 2 Unlock Company Profile
Sunshine Insurance Group 2 Unlock Company Profile
Tencent 2 Unlock Company Profile
Bank of America 2 Unlock Company Profile
SAP 2 Unlock Company Profile
Royal Bank of Canada 2 Unlock Company Profile
Verisk Analytics 2 Unlock Company Profile
Palantir Technologies 2 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

Ping An Insurance (Group) is one of the leading patent filers in insurance documentation AI. The company filed patents for AI-based methods and systems of text classification, document reading, data processing, insurance policy generation, agreement evaluation, and damage assessment. Some of the other key patent filers in the insurance documentation AI space include Tractable, Hartford Financial Services, and China Ping An Property and Casualty.

In terms of application diversity, Capital One Financial held the top position, while SAP and DataInfoCom USA stood in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Tractable leads the pack, followed by Paperclip and Addepar.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the insurance industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 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.