Swiss Re will collaborate with four schools within the National University of Singapore on risk-reduction projects involving big data, business analytics and information technologies.

Plans call for a three-year partnership with the Business Analytics Center, the Business School, the School of Computing and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS. Swiss Re said it will give seed money for some of the standout ideas, but it also will use the initiative to develop a future talent pool for the insurance industry.

“There is no escape from the big data tsunami and we need to be ahead of the wave,” Sharon Ooi, Swiss Re president of Singapore, and head of P/C reinsurance for Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, said in prepared remarks. “Swiss Re can therefore play an important role in the public-private partnership to support the changing risk landscape as Singapore evolves.”

Ooi added that analytics and big data can serve as vital tools for innovative risk reduction solutions, and that the project will let Swiss Re work with the insurance industry to narrow the protection gap in Asia in ways that weren’t possible before.

Specifically, this public/private partnership is focused on developing new ways to address new complex risks created by the Internet of Things, Smart Cities and also advances in healthcare, an aging population and natural catastrophe challenges in Asia.

One thing planned will be the six-month Swiss Re Challenges Series, to be held annually. As part of this, NUS faculty and graduate students will team up and develop business proposals that rely on big data and business analytics to tackle, in part, insurance protection gaps in Asia. Other sought-after projects in this event will be innovative insurance products built using data and smart technology for automotive telematics or a connected healthcare ecosystem. Winners will gain Swiss Re seed funding.

By teaming up with NUS, Swiss Re said the effort should advance Singapore as an international business analytics hub.

Swiss Re also plans to help groom future insurance talent by offering opportunities to NUS students of the Masters of Science Business Analytics Programme. As well, Swiss Re said it will conduct guest lectures for NUS students on market topics and insurance/reinsurance issues.

Source: Swiss Re