Lab Explore

Workshops are in-person; coaching and group activities can be remote.

• A practical, reusable innovation methodology
• Market-tested product concepts
• Up to 25 hours of CPD
• A valuable cross-market network

Lab Explore welcomes insurance professionals with established connections to the Lloyd's market. Eligibility for underwriters requires affiliation with a Managing General Agent (MGA) or a Lloyd's syndicate.

By the end of the programme participants will be able to:

1. Identify and frame Horizon 2 emergent risk opportunities Identify, frame and articulate Horizon 2 risks (emergent risks that are on the horizon but not yet actively addressed by the Lloyd’s market): moving beyond day-to-day pressures and far-future speculation to define clear, testable opportunity spaces.

2. Break down uncertainty into testable assumptions using structured innovation principles Apply evidence-based innovation principles - customer-centricity, assumption testing, experimentation, iteration and evidence-led decision-making - to break uncertainty into clear hypotheses and define what must be tested.

3. Generate and interpret primary evidence on customer need and market relevance Design, conduct and critically analyse primary research to understand emerging customer need, market relevance and risk transfer appetite, using AI-enabled tools where appropriate to accelerate discovery and synthesis while maintaining human judgement and rigour.

4. Evaluate whether an opportunity is credible/commercially viable Evaluate whether the evidence supports a credible new insurance opportunity by judging desirability, feasibility, viability, and insurance relevance. Participants form a clear view on whether the opportunity should progress to further development, pivot, or stop.

5. Communicate a decision-ready recommendation to sponsors and market stakeholders Develop and present a clear, evidence-backed recommendation that translates the evaluation into a decision-ready case - giving sponsors and relevant market stakeholders the confidence to act, pause or redirect effort.

During registration you will choose to express your interest in several emerging risk areas, identified as leading challenges by the Lloyd’s market. Throughout the programme, you will conduct research to identify and validate specific insurance opportunities within the selected emerging risk area.

If you already have a specific area in mind, we strongly recommend assembling a dedicated team to enter the programme with, to effectively address that specific challenge. We require each team applying as a group, to consist of at least two individuals.

Unless applying as a team, participants will be grouped based on shared interest in an emerging risk area, while ensuring a balance of expertise and experience.

When applying, you’ll select a specific topic area or share with us the types of opportunities that interest you. Teams are formed in advance by the Lloyd’s Lab team. If you want to join Lab Explore with a pre-formed team, please contact us at lloydslab@lloyds.com.

Absolutely. While Lab Explore is highly collaborative, organisations concerned about working alongside competitors may apply with their own team. Teams must include at least two participants committed to the full programme, with additional colleagues able to join at key points throughout the programme.

The programme will be delivered through four consecutive two weeks sprints and a final presentation.

Sprint 1: From Emergent Risk to Pain Point • Week 1: 3-hour face-to-face workshop
• Week 2: 30-minute coach call, 30-minute working session
• Teams dive deep into their emergent risk areas to understand what the emergent risk means for the market and what problems specific people will face. Participants will break down their thinking and conduct research with experts.


Sprint 2: From Paint Point to Opportunity • Week 3: 3-hour face-to-face workshop
• Week 4: 3-hour face-to-face workshop
• Teams understand what their research means and create a hypothesis on what the opportunity might be. They break this down into assumptions, ready for validating with the market and potential customers.


Sprint 3: Market Validation • Week 5: 30-minute coach call, 30-minute working session
• Week 6: 30-minute coach call, 30-minute working session
• Teams spend 2-weeks testing their assumptions with interviews, experiments and desk-research. Speaking to real people and crunching the numbers to generate evidence on what the market and customers really want.


Sprint 4: Refine and Recommend • Week 7: 3-hour face-to-face workshop
• Week 8: 30-minute coach call, 30-minute working session
• Teams analyse their evidence to refine a compelling opportunity case and determine a clear, evidenced recommendation on what to do next: continue, pivot or stop the exploration.

Final presentations: An opportunity for teams to demonstrate learnings and present an evidenced recommendation back to sponsor.