Insurance must become a scientific industry to better anticipate risks, prevent damage and strengthen business resilience.
With growing geopolitical pressure, unrelenting cyber threats and increasingly intense effects of climate change, the question is no longer whether 2026 will be the most challenging year of the decade, but how insurers, neither diviners nor arbiters of the future, can fully integrate science.
This is where the acceleration of our profession and the strength of our commitment come into play: asserting our role as a scientific actor. Without rigor, insurers will no longer be able to effectively protect tomorrow, whatever the scenario. Neither intuition, nor financial logic, nor old models will be enough: it is a change of nature, not just of scale.
It is therefore strategic to go beyond the classic function of the insurer, still too focused on a defensive logic of hazards and damages. We must establish a model based on scientific approaches, beneficial for insurers and their customers, and review our foundations.
Physical, environmental, economic and energy modeling will make it possible to better preserve business continuity and competitiveness, and not just to compensate for losses. As in health, where prevention and detection have transformed practices, science can strengthen resilience in the face of increased risks.
This transformation is already measurable: between 2019 and 2025, the probability of reduction in claims for companies having implemented scientifically proven prevention measures increased by 43%, even though floods, hail and fires are now hitting Europe with increased intensity.
Without predictive capabilities, it would be unwise to leave businesses without action. Our study on resilience by country, carried out among 800 decision-makers, shows that 74% underestimate the real exposure to climate risks. This lack of knowledge greatly increases the risks: business interruptions, financial weakening, collateral damage.
Confidence in the future will only be built by showing what is not yet visible. These are advanced technologies and cutting-edge research, not science fiction, enabling realistic probabilistic scenarios. These tools are essential for insurance and for society. In response to systemic risks, research centers have been created, of which a new center will be inaugurated in 2027 in Europe.
A central question remains: will data science be a lever for equality or a reserved domain? If 100% of businesses depend on it to function, will 100% really benefit from it?
Three risks emerge:
- Outdated reflexes, incapable of fully exploiting the data.
- A concentration of expertise among those who invest the most.
- Insufficient attention to data quality and resilience.
Insurers play an essential accelerator role in enabling the entire economy to benefit from data science. This requires a paradigm shift, based on a new mastery and a new culture. Engineers will be at the heart of tomorrow’s insurance, with concrete solutions to growing vulnerabilities. Failing this, the risk is clear: a two-speed economy in the face of risk.
In conclusion, considering insurers as scientific and technological players serving life and the economy is a necessity. It is a path of transformation based on conviction and anticipation. This is an essential step for the protection mission and the resilience imperative that the world needs, today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
