Reinvent Forum Amsterdam - Insurance 2026: Beyond the stage
It started like any great conference: inspiring talks and an evening to celebrate. Then, on Day Two at NN Group, we pulled our chairs into circles and let the room do the talking. Here's what came out of it.
What happens when you bring insurance leaders from across Europe and beyond into one city, give them a stage, a room full of peers, and the space to really talk?
At the end of September, Amsterdam found out. Over two days, Reinvent Forum Insurance 2026 brought together insurers, bancassurance players, brokers, and technology partners to explore what's really changing in insurance, and what's actually working. No theory. Just real experiences, shared openly between peers.
Day One: big ideas on stage, and an evening to celebrate
The forum opened at the NH Collection Amsterdam Barbizon Palace with a full day of keynotes and panels. From people-driven innovation and the evolving role of bancassurance to AI in operations and distribution, digital health, and the social impact of insurance, the agenda covered the topics shaping the industry right now.
Between sessions, the coffee breaks did what they do best at a Qorus event: discussions started on stage carried on in the corridors, business cards changed hands, and old contacts became new collaborators.
As the sessions closed, a welcome cocktail set the tone for the evening: the Qorus Innovation in Insurance Awards 2026. Selected from 367 submissions by 171 institutions across 50 countries, this year's winners show how insurers around the world are using AI, technology, and new approaches to transform customer experience, operations, products, and business models. The cocktail dinner reception that followed kept the exchange going long into the night. It was a chance to recognize the work behind the ideas, and to toast it together.
Day Two: from the stage to the circles
On the second morning, the forum moved to NN Group's office at the Oval Tower for our Insurance Community Meet-Up, AI-Driven Distribution: Reinventing the Insurance Customer Journey. And this is where things got hands-on.
This wasn't a classic conference session. NN Group opened their doors to our community, and the morning moved step by step from a plenary panel into an executive discussion, run as a workshop in small groups. It was all designed around one simple idea: the best insights come from the people in the room.
It started on stage. Moderated by Silvia Milian of Qorus Insurance, a panel of insurance and broker leaders explored how AI is reshaping the way insurance is found, sold, and serviced. The discussion moved quickly from vision to reality: what customers expect when they ask an AI assistant for advice, how the role of brokers and advisors is evolving, and why partnerships matter more than ever.
Then the room took over.
Small circles, big conversations
Participants split into small circles, pulled their chairs together, and each group took on one topic drawn from the conversations of Day One. Where is this already happening? What's really holding us back? What would we change tomorrow?
For a while, the room was full of voices: bancassurance experts debating with digital leaders, brokers challenging insurers, and newcomers to a topic asking the questions everyone else was thinking. Each circle then shared its conclusions with the whole room, and the threads came together into a picture no single presentation could have painted.
A workshop in small groups may be an unusual set-up for executives and leadership teams, but this is exactly what landed. Participants told us how much they appreciated that it wasn't a classic plenary. Working side by side made the morning more engaging and hands-on, and many left with new contacts they'd actually had a real conversation with.
Our host felt the same. Closing the morning, Harry van der Zwan, Chief Commercial Officer, Brokers & Partnerships at NN Group, told the room:
"With so many types of channel partners in the room, talking in depth with all of you was more worthwhile than giving another presentation."
Relive the atmosphere of both days in our photo albums: Day One and Day Two.
What we took home
A few themes came up again and again, on stage and in the circles:
- AI is moving from pilots to everyday work. The challenge is no longer whether AI works, but how to make it part of every team's daily routine.
- People set the pace. Adoption, culture, and confidence matter as much as technology, and advisors are being augmented, not replaced.
- Trust runs on transparency. Customers share their data when they understand how it's used.
- Insurers are becoming prevention partners. From alerts to health services, insurance is reaching far beyond the policy.
- Ecosystems need a long-term mindset. Start small, choose partners carefully, and build value that lasts.
Thank you, Amsterdam
A big thank you to NN Group for hosting our community and making such an honest exchange possible. Thank you to all our speakers and panelists, to the Innovation in Insurance Awards participants, and to everyone who joined us in Amsterdam and brought their ideas, questions, and energy to the room.
These conversations don't end here. Throughout the year, the Qorus Insurance Community brings peers together in Leaders Roundtables, webinars, and meet-ups to keep exploring how insurance is being reinvented.
Missed Amsterdam, or want to be part of the next conversation? Check out (or join if you have not done so yet) our Insurance & Embedded Insurance Community and explore what's coming next.
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