Trusted AI: Altilia wins the ACA Innovation Award 2026, presented by the Minister of Finance

Six startups, a full day of work alongside insurers and reinsurers from the Luxembourg financial centre, and one goal: to test the promise of artificial intelligence against the real-world constraints of the Luxembourg market. At the close of the 7th edition of the ACA Innovation Award, held on 27 October 2026 at Luxexpo The Box on the theme “From Data to Decision: Trusted AI for Insurance”, the jury singled out Altilia. The trophy was presented by Gilles Roth, Minister of Finance, before more than a hundred professionals from the insurance, technology and institutional sectors.

The winner of the 2026 edition

Altilia won with its sovereign operating system for agentic AI, applied during the day to the automation of an insurance process. The jury praised a proposal rooted in a genuine business need rather than a technology showcase: a clearly defined use case, a credible balance between automation and human oversight, and serious consideration of the constraints specific to the Luxembourg market, from professional secrecy to the auditability of data processing. It also highlighted the quality of the work carried out within the mixed team over the course of the day, and the realism of the path outlined towards short-term deployment at an insurer or reinsurer in the Luxembourg financial centre. The award was presented by Gilles Roth, Minister of Finance and Co-Chair of the Advisory Board on AI in Finance. Stéphanie Obertin, Minister for Digitalisation, who has supported the event since the launch of its new format in 2024, addressed the participants in a video message. This dual government commitment reflects recognition, at the highest level, of the role of innovation in the competitiveness of Luxembourg insurance and of the financial centre.

A format that turns the pitch competition on its head

Whereas most innovation competitions ask startups to present a solution to a jury, the ACA Innovation Award takes the opposite approach. The six finalists did not pitch a product: they adapted it, on site, based on a shared assignment inspired by the realities of a Luxembourg insurance or reinsurance company, which each team then translated into a specific use case.

The format is built on six mixed teams bringing together three complementary profiles: the startup, which brings its technology and agility; ACA Effective members, insurance and reinsurance companies, which anchor the proposal in operational processes and end-customer expectations; and associate members, law firms, consulting firms and technology experts, which provide a cross-functional perspective on compliance, technical feasibility and business models. What was presented to the jury in the evening, in front of the entire ecosystem, was therefore not a sales demonstration, but a co-developed proposal whose feasibility had been collectively challenged throughout the day by industry professionals.

Two challenges at the heart of the financial centre’s competitiveness

Luxembourg combines a domestic market, an international life insurance hub operating under the freedom to provide services throughout the European Union, a non-life business strengthened since Brexit, and Europe’s leading centre for (re)insurance captives. The sector is supervised by a dedicated regulator, the Commissariat aux Assurances, and governed by professional secrecy and an increasingly dense European framework (DORA, GDPR, AI Act). In this context, integrating AI in a reliable, explainable and auditable way becomes a direct driver of competitiveness.

This observation was the starting point for ACA’s Innovation Working Group. It mapped the concrete issues faced by companies, resulting in six priority categories to frame the sourcing. The applications received then converged on two challenges:

• Automating without losing control. Insurers are no longer looking for conversational copilots. They want solutions integrated into their workflows, their data and their business rules. These solutions must distinguish between what can be entrusted to AI and what must be escalated to an expert, and determine what evidence should be retained at each stage.
• Making compliance continuous and operational. This means detecting a regulatory change, identifying the applicable obligations, assigning actions and providing usable evidence, without ever delegating regulatory interpretation or the final decision to AI.

The six startups selected for the 2026 edition – Altilia, DEVANA, Figen AI, Interloom, Kalipso and MarvelX – brought complementary expertise in agentic AI, document processing, controlled workflows, technological sovereignty, regulatory intelligence and claims automation. Their selection is the result of a sourcing process conducted with Plug and Play and the LHoFT, complemented by applications sent directly to ACA and by connections established with other ecosystem players, including the Village by CA Luxembourg.

What this event brings to the sector

ACA members innovate, each at their own level. The ACA Innovation Award does not replace these initiatives: it amplifies them. Its ambition is to create a collective space where topics that extend beyond the boundaries of a single company can be addressed together. Pooling exploration efforts, testing the same technology against several business realities, and clearing up, in a single day, the misunderstandings that usually hinder dialogue between a startup and a highly regulated sector: this is where the event’s added value for the financial centre lies.

The benefits go beyond the trophy. Each of the six startups leaves with a use case refined through contact with the field, a more precise understanding of Luxembourg-specific constraints and identified contacts. Since the event was launched in 2020, nearly 40 startups have taken part, and over the last two editions, all the winners have entered into concrete collaborations with ACA members. The examples speak for themselves: the partnership developed between LEGALFLY, 2024 winner, and Wealins illustrates the event’s ability to serve as the starting point for a lasting collaboration, as do the discussions initiated with SOPIAD, EmailTree.ai, Hokus and Active Asset Allocation. The ACA Innovation Award does not create opportunities: it creates the conditions that make them possible.

“Innovation is useful when it meets a real need and can be adopted under the conditions specific to our sector. The ACA Innovation Award creates this direct dialogue between startups and insurance professionals in order to turn a technological promise into a credible, controlled solution adapted to the Luxembourg market.”

Nicolas Limbourg, President of ACA

“The main challenge is no longer experimenting with artificial intelligence, but industrialising it. On this journey, no one can move forward alone: it is by bringing together startups, business experts and specialists around a shared need that we can tell passing trends from long-term shifts. AI remains a tool; it is people who turn it into a real lever, serving our clients and the financial centre.”

Marie-Hélène Massard, Vice-President and sponsor of ACA’s Innovation Working Group

An event driven by the ecosystem

The day was made possible by the commitment of the 2026 edition sponsors: Gold sponsors: Baloise, Foyer Group, LALUX Assurances, Monument Assurance Luxembourg, PwC Luxembourg, SOGELIFE and SOPIAD; Engagement sponsors: AG2R La Mondiale, BPCE Life, Crédit Agricole Life Insurance, EY Luxembourg, KPMG Luxembourg, LuxProvide and Vitis Life; and Visibility sponsors: Barents Reinsurance, CAMCA Assurance, Deloitte Luxembourg, FM, Generali, HACA Partners, Hiscox, Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe and MOLITOR Avocats à la Cour. It also benefited from the support of sourcing partners Plug and Play, the LHoFT and the Village by CA Luxembourg. The solutions were assessed by a jury of executives and experts in insurance, reinsurance, consulting and innovation from Baloise, LALUX Assurances, Monument Assurance Luxembourg, PwC Luxembourg, SOGELIFE, SOPIAD and WEALINS – Groupe Foyer. Their mission: to assess each proposal in light of the sector’s real needs, its operational and regulatory feasibility, and its potential for short-term impact on the financial centre. The awards ceremony was followed by a networking cocktail bringing together the entire Luxembourg insurance, technology and innovation ecosystem.