Discovery wins Gold at the Qorus Innovation in Insurance Awards 2025

24 June 2025: Discovery won the Gold Award for its Personal Health Pathways innovation at this year’s Qorus-NTT DATA Innovation in Insurance Awards, held at a ceremony in Warsaw on the 17th of June. Personal Health Pathways won the top accolade in the “Re-imagining the Customer Experience” category, which recognises innovations that significantly enhance the way that companies engage with customers.

Discovery also received the Bronze Award in the Global Innovator category, which recognises overall world leaders in insurance innovation.

The global awards competition, now in its 10^thyear, showcases the best insurance innovations across the globe. This year it attracted more than 272 entries by 146 institutions from 49 countries, with applicants ranging from new start-ups to the world’s largest financial institutions. Winners were selected through a peer-based voting process combined with a panel of judges from leading global financial firms. Criteria that the judges considered included originality (uniqueness of the idea); impact (ability to generate superior long-term competitive advantage); universality (potential to be adapted in other markets); and form quality (the detail and excellence with which the innovation is presented).

Re-imagining the Customer Experience Award

Discovery’s Personal Health Pathways innovation is an individualised health journey leveraging the world's largest clinical, lifestyle, and behavioural data set to give people hyper-personal guidance, goals, and rewards. Runners-up in this category were Ping An (China) and Bradesco Seguros (Brazil).

Kim Backos, Business Owner and Product Design Lead for Personal Health Pathways, accepted the award, saying: “We’d like to thank Qorus for this recognition – it validates the bold thinking and collective discipline and dedication needed to bring Personal Health Pathways to life. With the accelerated pace of AI and technology, now is the time to build experiences that are engaging, personal, and precise, and we are really excited about the potential.”

Ron Whelan, CEO of Discovery Health describes Personal Health Pathways as a strategic platform powered by one of the world’s largest health and behavioural data sets, cutting-edge AI and technology, and personalised incentives and communication. “It brings this all together to create tailored preventative health recommendations for each of the more than two million adults on Discovery Health Medical Scheme,” he added.

Personalised Health Pathways uses data science and AI to analyse an individual’s health data, providing tailored recommendations such as completing health checks, visiting their dentist, or engaging in physical activity. These actions are designed exclusively for them, meaning they'll get actions that align with their unique health and exercise goals, suited to their life stage. Completing recommended actions can earn members rewards, such as points in their Personal Health Fund, which can be used for day-to-day medical expenses. The rewards are also personalised, ensuring that members receive relevant and engaging incentives for completing their recommended actions.

Global Innovator Award

Discovery came third in the Global Innovator category for embedding a purpose-driven innovation culture that aligns customer health, insurer profit, and societal benefit through its Vitality model. Using data-driven incentives and a structured, company-wide innovation process, Discovery continues to deliver scalable health and insurance solutions globally. Ping An (China) was the Gold winner and Generali (Italy) was the Silver winner.

Discovery Founder and Chief Executive, Adrian Gore, accepted the award on behalf of Discovery Limited, saying: “We want to thank Qorus and the distinguished panel of judges for this honour – the award is particularly meaningful to us considering the scale, depth, and quality of innovation on display this year. From Discovery’s perspective, we see a world full of opportunity, full of challenge, full of change – and that demands innovation. We believe our Vitality Shared-value model gives us the potential to make a difference through purpose-led innovation that makes people healthier. The insurance industry is also unique because we are completely aligned to our customers’ interests – when they are healthier and live longer, we are more profitable.”

Reflecting on the entries and winners, Qorus CEO, John Berry, said: “Once again, we had the opportunity to recognise some of the most innovative insurance projects from around the world. We saw how cutting-edge technologies like generative AI – combined with human ingenuity – are helping tackle the challenges facing the insurance sector. I was once again truly impressed by the projects presented during the ceremony.”