University of St.Gallen and Helvetia Insurance jointly launch Innovation Lab

The University of St.Gallen and Helvetia Insurance are jointly developing the Helvetia Innovation Lab for research in business model innovation and new eco-systems in the insurance industry. The lab is part of the University’s Institute for Technology Management and directed by Oliver Gassmann, Professor for Technology Management, specializing in Innovation Management at the University of St.Gallen.

More specifically, the Helvetia Innovation Lab focuses on the area of business model innovations. In the thoroughly connected world of today, business model innovations cannot be subjects of isolated, singular research projects. That’s why customers increasingly feel the need for comprehensive yet personalized solutions. A single company very often is no longer in a position to single-handedly satisfy every client requirement, but should rather bring in partners to jointly cover complex and multi-faceted Customer Journeys.

«Developing new business models and eco-systems is an integral part of our helvetia 20.20 strategy. And the cooperation with the University of St.Gallen all but guarantees additional valuable insights and inputs for our work», says Philipp Gmür, CEO of Helvetia Group, expressing his excitement about the innovative project in the St.GallenBodenseeArea. Thomas Bieger, President of the University of St.Gallen, concurred: «There is a great proximity to Helvetia, and not only geographically. At the Innovation Lab we’ll put this proximity to good scientific use in order to get to the bottom of questions regarding the practical relevance of innovative business models.»

More about the Helvetia Innovation Lab:
http://www.item.unisg.ch/en/divisions/innovation+mgmt/research/helvetia+innovation+lab