Meet the Insurance Company That Chose Build Over Buy—And Won Awards for It

On this week’s episode of The Leadership in Insurance Podcast, I sat down with James Fairgrieve, Head of Innovation at Aventum to explore how their Innovation Lab has designed award winning technology to fit their unique business requirements.

From James’ 25 years’ experience in technology, all the way from Y2K testing to UK FinTech innovator of the year 2025, this episode dives deep into the formula for creating an innovation space that delivers.

In this episode, we cover:

 💡How innovation isn't about lack of ideas - it's about needing structure. Before James had a dedicated innovation team, he kept a running list of ideas that he had no time to implement. Now it’s his primary focus.

🔧 How choosing to build their own tech platform rather than buy off-the-shelf solutions has become a success story at Aventum.

 ⚖️ The challenges that businesses face when buying in systems that can’t be easily changed to fit business needs

🔗 How you take something from proof of concept to becoming fully embedded across a business.

⚡ How Aventum have created a culture of innovation throughout their whole business which enables ideas to be pitched from anyone

 💻 The importance of making it fun. Activities that spark curiosity and gain employee buy in including game coding on lunchbreaks

🚀 Looking to the future and pushing the boundaries of what Agentic AI can achieve

This episode is packed with insights for anyone passionate about innovation, technology, and creating a team culture where ideas are encouraged -and pushed through to completion. Give it a listen via the links in the comments below 👇👇 👇 👇

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