• SURA climbed eight positions in this annual survey conducted by the National Association of Colombian Businesspersons (ANDI in Spanish), which evaluated 347 organizations throughout the country.
• Innovation is a cross-cutting capability and a strategic priority that has enabled SURA to transform and evolve its different lines of business.
• SURA earned special mention in this survey for its ability to bring about innovation through new lines of business, products, solutions and services.
• SURA's recent advances in Colombia includes consolidating its newly formed VaxThera subsidiary as well as the virtual on-line health care and oxygen therapy models that helped to save lives during the pandemic.

With the aim of recognizing the effort, work and results in furthering innovation in the private sector, the National Association of Colombian Businesspersons (ANDI) published  the results of its Sixth Annual Business Innovation Ranking for 2022, in which SURA ranked in second place as the most innovative company in the country, having climbed a total of eight positions compared to 2021. It was also ranked in second place in the top 10 consolidated innovation ecosystems.

ANDI's survey included 347 companies from 17 economic sectors and was conducted by a diverse panel of experts who analyzed 19 rating variables that, among other aspects, included performance, culture, impact and investment in innovation. In this regard, SURA reported significant progress in materializing innovation thanks to having created and invested in new businesses, products, solutions and services on the part of all those companies belonging to the SURA Business Group in Colombia.

In this year´s survey, ANDI singled out SURA´s VaxThera venture as the experience having the greatest impact last year. Seguros SURA Colombia is driving this specialized biotechnology company, in order to respond to the need to achieve independence in the production of biologics in both Colombia and the rest of Latin America. VaxThera uses its own capabilities, collaborative networks and cutting-edge technology, in order to enable it to produce vaccines on a local level, while helping to advance scientific research both on a domestic level as well as in the region.

"At SURA, we understand innovation as being a cross-cutting capability that has enabled us to transform and evolve our different lines of business. That is why we are looking ahead in order to bring about opportunities that in turn shall allow us to create and implement initiatives in response to the needs of both private individuals and society as a whole," stated Juan David Escobar, CEO of Seguros SURA Colombia.

In this regard, SURA has recently developed several initiatives containing elements of innovation based on its own knowledge as applied to the different lines of business, for example:

• The Plan Elige solution allows insurance to be consumed according to people's own particular needs; this being the first initiative deployed by an insurer in the Regulatory Sandbox set up by the Colombian Superintendency of Finance.
• On the health front, the Virtual Health Care, Oxygen Therapy and Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit models were consolidated, which during the pandemic allowed the Company to reduce the mortality rate of its subscribers and policyholders to levels much lower than the average rates recorded throughout Colombia.
• Nubloq is another technology-based venture launched by Grupo SURA that connects up financial institutions with digital companies in order to offer improved services in a swift and safe manner.
• The Electric Car Insurance plan creates confidence-building mechanisms for adopting this type of technology while leveraging the national electric mobility strategy.
• Empresas SURA is a platform that provides MSMEs with specialized knowledge on key aspects for furthering their competitiveness and sustainability.

Finally, from Grupo SURA's perspective, it is important to mention that two companies forming part of its portfolio as an investment manager, was among the top 30 most innovative companies in Colombia .

Grupo Nutresa obtained first place in the overall ranking and is also a leader in the category of "Consolidated Innovation Ecosystems," given its recent R&D initiatives in terms of innovation based on nutrition and health criteria.

For its part, Protección was ranked in 27th position in the ANDI ranking and has been a pioneer in Colombia with implementing digital solutions and services relating to its pension, severance and investment fund management offerings