Many established and emerging businesses are tapping into new sources of data and modelling, and developing new methods of data interpretation in order to more accurately predict future risks emerging from complex systems, such as climate change and supply chains.

However, access to data is challenging, particularly for SMEs, and inefficiencies have been introduced due to the resources required to transform it to industry-useable form.

The UK’s academic capability in environmental science, systems modelling, big data, engineering, economics, and data analytics, holds significant untapped potential for this market, however efforts would benefit from greater interdisciplinarity and focus on business requirements.

Key Research Questions

There is a clear gap for researchers to work with insurers to support the development of innovative tools to assess risk and resilience, and provide a clearer framework for embedding resilience into decision making for businesses and governments.

To drive forward this development, we have put together a series of questions that we believe can help shape the right level of research – and fundamentally deliver answers. These are as follows:

• How can we improve access for all businesses – particularly SMEs – to usable data and models and new methods of data interpretation and prediction in order to more accurately predict future systemic risks?
• How can we approve modelling for supply chain risk to include analysis of the wider degree of correlation, interconnected risks and macro-economic trends?
• How can we develop a clearing house for industry data to be collated and anonymised? The lack of such an instrument is a significant barrier to academic – industrial collaboration.
• How can we de-risk innovation by demonstrating emerging technologies and solutions, effectively trialling on behalf of industry?
• Complex modelling approaches into resilience are beginning to be developed by academia, but how can we make these more inter-disciplinary and focussed on the needs of business?
• How resilient is insurance? Have product and industry correlation in insurance policies lead to overexposure to product groups and multiple industries where a widely used sub(product) could affect more than one industry?
• Can we implement a data standard for underwriting supply chain risks to help insurers become more consistent?
• What is the potential for parametric insurance products and smart contracts to offer lower priced, more comprehensive cover to insureds – particularly SMEs – to help improve supply chain resilience?
• Will the new IFRS 17 methods affect insurance market cycles, and will insurance company valuations be affected?
• How can big data analytics initiatives like Agritask be further adapted and developed to have a wider impact?

If you are an academic and believe you can help fulfil or progress the questions above, or if you are an insurer wishing to expand or share your own expertise on the topic, please get in contact with us to see how you can help.