“Open innovation, understood as collaborative work with partners and startups, is essential for creating value.” - Juan Cumbrado, Director of Innovation at MAPFRE

Innovation in the insurtech field is redefining how insurance companies operate. It is no longer just about incorporating technology into the business model, but about transforming the way products are designed, teams are organized, and customer needs are addressed.

In this interview with Juan Cumbrado, Director of Innovation at MAPFRE Spain, we discuss key topics such as collaborations between startups and large corporations—which accelerate solution development, open up new approaches, and generate impact. He also reflects on the shared learnings between the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, and on how to foster an innovation culture that is participatory, strategic, and sustainable.

His testimony offers an honest and practical perspective on how to transform a large organization from within, connecting with people and with the broader environment.

1. How is MAPFRE driving the digital transformation currently taking place in the innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem?

As Director of Innovation at MAPFRE Spain, my role is to identify the challenges posed by technological and social transformations in the insurance market, and to detect those that can be translated into opportunities to improve our services and products. This work is always carried out in close collaboration with the company’s strategy and business teams.

To achieve this, it is essential to stay alert to changes in the sector, respond proactively, and adapt to the evolving expectations of our customers, since every change brings new consumption patterns. Added to this is the need to anticipate the demands of future generations, another key focus.

For us, innovation is the engine that drives this evolution, and we believe it should be the same in the corporate world in general. A company’s ability to face rapid change is a critical factor for its competitiveness and relevance in the sector. It is about promoting a mindset open to change, where collaboration and continuous learning are integral to everyday work. Only in this way can we commit to growth, efficiency, and the evolution of the company. In our case, we want to continue fostering an innovation culture that is understood as a fundamental, imperative, and necessary principle.

2. How has the insurtech sector evolved in recent years to adapt to new market demands, and what role does open innovation play in your strategy?

At MAPFRE, our way of adapting to market demands is through the reinvention of our insurance offering: we advance in parallel with digital and social transformation, translating people’s needs into new products and services. Today’s society is defined by its focus on data and its demand for efficiency and speed. This is exactly what we take into account when developing new projects, always striving to deliver the highest quality. For example, one of our goals is to become a leader in claims management, ensuring the process is as automated, efficient, and accurate as possible. At the same time, we place great importance on principles such as humanity, sustainability, and, of course, innovation.

In short, this evolutionary stage can be summarized in three fundamental pillars: the digitalization of products and services, a focus on a more personalized customer experience, and the construction of an agile and sustainable business model. The greatest lesson we draw from this process is that innovation is a continuum—far from being the end goal, it is the mindset that guides our work.

3. What role do partnerships between startups and corporations play in the insurtech sector?

The insurance sector—or insurtech—is inherently collaborative, given its transversal nature. In fact, the strength of partnerships contributes directly to the strength of any company. They allow us to explore opportunities across sectors, address diverse profiles and needs, enrich our customer relationships, and energize our own operations.

We understand innovation as one of the great levers of differentiation to remain relevant both internally and externally. We believe that open innovation—understood as collaborative work with partners and startups—is essential for creating value. It is an opportunity to expand our range of products and services, strengthen our market positioning, promote shared values, and discover and leverage new tools.

4. What are the main lessons that large corporations can learn from the entrepreneurial world, and vice versa?

Among the many innovation strategies, we have spent years testing different approaches to see which best fit the needs of the company and of our employees, who ultimately must lead this culture of continuous transformation. This testing is ongoing: what may not have worked in 2018, when we launched our first innovation model, may now be effective, and we must take that into account. This mindset of experimentation and adaptability is something large corporations learn from the entrepreneurial world: the ability to pivot, to test quickly, and to embrace failure as part of the learning process.

In this context, corporations contribute to the entrepreneurial ecosystem with strategic vision, solidity, and large‑scale management experience. It is important to highlight the close and direct relationship with business, technology, and operations. For a culture of transformation to take root, it is essential that we are fully aligned and moving in the same direction. Only then will initiatives have a strategic impact, meeting both project and business objectives. This ability to coordinate across different areas and maintain a long‑term vision are lessons startups can learn from large organizations.

There is no innovation culture without intrapreneurship. From the entrepreneurial world we have learned that it is essential to encourage employees to develop projects with a startup mindset within the organization. In Spain, we have the PATIO program—an acceleration program in Transformation, Innovation, and Business Opportunities. It is a working framework designed to maximize innovation through the creativity and collaboration of its participants. It is a professional structure that ensures tangible results and encourages people to present initiatives that help address both internal and external challenges.

5. How do you manage the innovation culture internally so that traditional models coexist with the new ways of working brought by the entrepreneurial ecosystem?

At MAPFRE, we approach this with people as the foundation of everything. For them to accept, drive, and understand transformation, it must become part of their work culture. That is why we promote plans for technological evolution, digitalization, self‑management, and operational reorganization. One of the cornerstones of our philosophy is that we are a company in constant learning, which keeps us focused on the pursuit of innovation. When teams perceive that they are naturally part of the company’s culture, they adopt it as their own rather than as an external imposition.

We also prioritize direct communication with our workforce as the main channel for conveying the changes we implement internally. Explaining the reasons behind certain decisions, as well as their real applications and positive impact—both for employees and for customers—fosters a positive work environment.

Ultimately, whenever we launch any initiative, we provide teams with the tools, knowledge, and support they need to feel prepared for its adoption. It is vital that everyone at MAPFRE shares a common purpose and has the means to actively lead the transformation.

6. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs and companies seeking to establish strategic collaborations with large corporations like MAPFRE?

Rather than advice, we believe the key is to be clear about the priorities that guide the implementation of a digital and/or cultural transformation. In our case, we work with a strong focus on people: our MAPFRE teams, our collaborators, and of course, our customers. To generate meaningful change, we must listen to the needs and expectations of everyone around us. Only then can we determine what type of products or services to promote, the pace at which to implement them, the challenges they pose, and the solutions we can provide. All of these are essential criteria, and they all start from the same point.

It is also worth highlighting that moving forward in parallel strengthens the company’s transparency and trust—another key element in this process. Technological, social, and cultural evolution requires a group that understands it, shares it, and extends it.

7. What value do public initiatives such as the ONE Platform bring in facilitating collaboration between large corporations and the entrepreneurial ecosystem?

A great deal. Initiatives like the ONE Platform make the collaboration process easier, which is essential for gaining a global perspective and, as a result, achieving a broader scope of action, as we have been discussing. They enable the creation of synergies and the development of innovative solutions that would be difficult to generate independently. At the same time, they contribute to strengthening the business fabric and to fostering economic and social development as a whole.