Protecting populations, public assets and economies against natural catastrophes is an urgent need. Over the last several years there has been a dramatic increase in activity in this area, but solutions and meaningful progress have proven difficult, for a number of reasons. New technologies and innovations are providing valuable new tools for closing the protection gap.

These technologies hold the potential for us to better understand, manage and transfer risk, increasing resilience. Tech-enabled insurance – and those operating in the risk management ecosystem – may have a key role to play in building global resilience. However, the exponential pace of technological change means that laws, regulation, policy and regulatory architecture can struggle to keep up. There is a clear need to regulate for innovation, to ensure that citizens’ privacy and their data is protected, while at the same time gathering data that will help us close the protection gap.