The Pursuit of Happiness is an inspiring story of a struggling salesman, Chris Gardner (Will Smith), who loses everything, including his wife, house and money. Instead of wallowing in self-pity and defeat, Chris picks himself up, works harder and smarter than the competition to make life better for himself and his son.

I don't think you need to fall to the lowest point to react as Will Smith’s character in the movie. There are important forces in the market today accelerating the need of innovation; a wakeup call that nobody should ignore.

Source: Celent

There’s a moment in the movie when Chris speaks to his son about chasing your dreams: “Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves; they want to tell you, you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.” – Chris Gardner

I sometimes feel like those innovating in the insurance industry are chasing dreams, not taking no as an answer. Not an easy task, in a regulated industry with centuries of antiquity; but with many already in pursuit of the happiness of making innovation happen.

With that spirit, a few months ago, Celent's CEO Jamie Macgregor joined me to discuss the main trends and fundamentals of innovation in insurance. Check the accompanying video to review:

• Why innovation is important to insurers and how the initiatives have shifted over time.
• The three pillars of making innovation happen: Emerging insurance models, enabling technologies, and innovation execution.

As we review examples and evidence of innovation from around the world and from Celent’s Model Insurer Program, Jamie and I share a few observations:

• Change is happening you like it or not, not only by new players but established insurers.
• You need to understand who you are. Are you a consumer brand or a transnational player?
• When things are nascent there is a move to build and create a competitive advantage but as it sinks in, you have COTS available and technology becomes competitive parity.
• Innovation from the inside, close to the business. No one will do it for you. External players might help but you need to own it.

For more on this please watch the video we created as Jamie and I presented to the audience at a recent conference hosted by 100% Seguros.

To learn more on how Celent can help you make innovation happen please contact your account executive or myself. Happy to jump into a conversation on the topic.