Gen Re has become a founding member of InsurLab Germany, a digital hub for the insurance and reinsurance industry, which has been established in Cologne.
InsurLab Germany is open to companies in the insurance industry along with start-ups and related service providers.
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Other co-founders of InsurLab Germany include: the Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry; the University of Cologne and TH Köln University of Applied Sciences;
Ulrich Pasdika, head of region Germany and research & development life & health at Gen Re, was elected to the association’s board along with two other representatives from the insurance industry.
Gen Re has been involved in various initiatives dedicated to the digital future of the industry for some time now. One of the fields it focuses on within this area is data science.
Dr. Winfried Heinen, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors at Gen Re, said the initiative strengthens Cologne as an insurance hub.
Heinen said: “As a top ten reinsurer with a global network, we have a strong interest in promoting collaboration between start-ups and the insurance industry – to the benefit of both sides.”
Pasdika commented: “We firmly believe that cooperation between insurers and reinsurers on the one hand and a wide range of InsurTechs on the other, offers huge potential for innovative approaches.
“Provided the industry maintains this collaboration in a smart, consistent way, digitalization represents a massive opportunity for it. Cologne’s InsurLab is the latest in a long line of international initiatives and projects relating to technology and innovation which we have established around the world, and it offers us another outstanding opportunity to help shape these major changes.”
