Episodes
-
How the insurance industry is promoting a shift in disaster mitigation through science-backed building standards and state-level partnerships to make homes more resilient is discussed in “Building Resilience: From Rooftops to Results,” the latest episode of the Predict & Prevent podcast from The Institutes.
Roy Wright, President and CEO of The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), joined Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, to explore the role of insurers and consumers in making homes and communities safer.
Roy talks about the IBHS FORTIFIED program and its success in Alabama, as well as the newer Wildfire Prepared Home initiative. He explains how these programs have evolved, their impact on reducing insurance claims, and the critical role of state partnerships in driving adoption. Roy also talks about how proper building standards and retrofitting can significantly reduce property damage and disruption to people's lives during severe weather events. The challenge of getting more states to adopt modern building codes is also discussed. And Roy talks about future initiatives focused on roof durability and performance.
Resources:
The Institute for Business & Home Safety: https://ibhs.org/
FORTIFIED home designation: https://fortifiedhome.org/
Wildfire Prepared Home: https://wildfireprepared.org/
Rating the States: https://ibhs.org/public-policy/rating-the-states/
The Institutes: https://global.theinstitutes.org/
Predict & Prevent website: https://www.predictandprevent.org/
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: https://www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter/
-
In an era where gun violence continues to plague American society, how one innovative technology company is stepping up to address this persistent challenge is the focus of “AI on Guard: Stopping Gun Violence Before It Starts,” the latest episode of the Predict & Prevent podcast from The Institutes.
Host Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, talks with Timothy Fallon, VP of Strategic Initiatives at ZeroEyes, on how artificial intelligence and human verification are being combined to create proactive solutions for gun violence prevention.
Tim discusses the company's mission to prevent gun violence through advanced AI technology that detects firearms in real-time. He explains the operational process of detection, verification, and alerting relevant authorities, emphasizing the importance of human analysts in assessing threats. The discussion also covers the impact of ZeroEyes on school safety, the technology behind their solutions, and their partnerships with the insurance industry to provide comprehensive safety measures. Tim shares insights on the future of ZeroEyes and the critical role of technology in enhancing public safety.
Resources:
ZeroEyes: https://zeroeyes.com/
Lloyd’s Lab: https://www.lloyds.com/news-and-insights/lloyds-lab
Lloyd’s Lab Americas Cohort: https://www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/media-centre/press-releases/lloyds-lab-announces-insurtechs-joining-first-ever-americas-based-cohort
The Institutes: https://global.theinstitutes.org/
Predict & Prevent website: https://www.predictandprevent.org/
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: https://www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter/
-
Missing episodes?
-
Technology and innovation are increasingly being applied to manage the growing threat of wildfires. Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, welcomes Bill Clerico, founder of Convective Capital, to discuss how early-stage firetech companies are making a difference in improving community resilience, mitigating risk and enabling a safer and faster response to fires.
Bill shares his personal experience with wildfires and how it led him to start Convective Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage wildfire technology companies. Bill highlights the three main problems these startups are solving: building resilient landscapes, creating fire-adapted communities, and ensuring safe and effective response. He provides examples of companies in each category, such as BurnBot for resilient landscapes, Fire Aside for fire-adapted communities, and Pano for safe and effective response. Clerico also emphasizes the need for greater collaboration among stakeholders, including utilities, insurers, and regulators, to address the challenges of wildfire prevention and mitigation. Finally he shares some ideas on how insurers can fund pilots to capture data that could save billions down the road by reducing wildfire risk.
Resources:
Convective Capital: https://www.convectivecapital.com/
BurnBot: https://burnbot.com/
Fire Aside: https://www.fireaside.com/
Pano: https://www.pano.ai/
OnSight Technology: https://onsightops.com/
Red Sky Summit: https://redskysummit.com/
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS): https://ibhs.org/
Predict & Prevent website: www.predictandprevent.org
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter
-
Nationwide Insurance is working to improve property resilience through risk mitigation, technology adoption, and advocacy for building codes. Mark Berven, president and COO of Nationwide, talks about the importance of shifting from a reactive approach to a "predict and prevent" mindset in the insurance industry, especially amid changing weather patterns.
Berven discusses Nationwide's efforts to increase property resilience and advocacy for wider adoption of building codes in the U.S. He
shares insights from Nationwide's commercial lines protection survey, highlighting the concerns and impacts of severe weather on businesses. He also discusses various technologies that Nationwide is evaluating and implementing to prevent losses. Berven also talks about the role of agent partners in promoting resilience, and how insurer support for the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety is producing valuable research into resilience and risk mitigation.
Resources:
Nationwide website: https://www.nationwide.com/
Ting by Whisker Labs: https://www.whiskerlabs.com/
Kinetic: https://kineticcomp.com/
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety: https://ibhs.org/
Predict & Prevent website: https://www.predictandprevent.org/
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: https://www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter/
-
With a rich history spanning nearly 160 years, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co. has evolved from a think tank focused on preventing steam boiler explosions to a leader in engineering, technology, and insurance solutions. Hear John Riggs, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Applied Technology Solutions, share how HSB is deploying advanced technology to deliver what it calls a "connect and protect" risk management strategy.
Riggs shares insights into HSB's approach to technology-enabled risk prevention and protection, highlighting the company's focus on sensor solutions, risk solutions, and data solutions. The conversation
explores HSB's collaborative ecosystem, upcoming product innovations, and the impact of technology on loss prevention. HSB is partnering with tech giants like Amazon to develop advanced sensor technologies, including an exciting new credit card-sized sensor that could transform property protection. Join us as we uncover how HSB is leveraging IoT, data solutions, and strategic partnerships to stay at the forefront of the industry and better serve its clients.
Resources
Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB) website
Ting by Whisker Labs
Amazon Sidewalk network
WINT Water Intelligence
Predict & Prevent website: www.predictandprevent.org
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter
-
Hear how Liberty Mutual is helping its clients prevent losses through data-driven strategies and the careful application of technological innovations. Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, welcomes Dorothy Doyle, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Risk Control Services for Liberty Mutual, to talk about how risk control is being enhanced and expanded today.
Dorothy talks about using risk assessments to redesign workflows and reduce losses. How risk control is evolving thanks to real-time indicators and emerging technologies. How Liberty Mutual leverages data scientists and predictive analytics to unlock hidden insights and help clients make informed business decisions. The importance of conducting statistically sound pilot programs to evaluate technological innovations before widespread implementation. And she talks about the importance of having a safety culture that drives clients to prevent losses and lower their cost of risk. Dorothy also highlights various technologies, such as machine learning, collaborative robotics, and wearable sensors, that are transforming the way businesses approach risk control.
Resources:
Liberty Mutual Risk Control website: https://business.libertymutual.com/services/risk-control/
Liberty Mutual’s Workplace Safety Index: https://business.libertymutual.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WorkplaceSafetyIndex_WP.pdf
Predict & Prevent website: www.predictandprevent.org
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter
-
Learn how one company is leveraging artificial intelligence and computer vision to not only improve workplace safety, but also to transform
the traditional workers' compensation insurance model. Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, talks with Josh Butler, CEO and Founder of CompScience, about how a focus on preventing losses creates a better outcome for insurers, brokers, employers and employees.
Josh shares his journey from working on self-driving car technology to founding CompScience, a company that uses AI and computer vision
to enhance workplace safety and reduce costs for businesses through a unique "active insurance" model. Josh discusses inspiration for the company. How safety recommendations are lowering accidents. The benefits to brokers of an enhanced workers’ comp policy. How CompScience differs from other safety tech. Plans to expand in general liability and construction sector. Why an MGA model helps adoption. The ROI in insurance of preventing losses.
Resources:
CompScience website: www.compscience.com
Predict & Prevent website: www.predictandprevent.org
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter
-
Using advanced flood modeling technology to predict when storms and heavy rains will cause severe surface flooding can give businesses and communities the early warning they need to protect their assets, deploy mitigation efforts and get out of harm's way.
In this episode of the Predict & Prevent podcast, Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, talks with Dr. Avi Baruch, co-founder of Previsico, a company that provides early warning systems for flooding. Avi discusses the risk of flooding, with a focus on surface water or pluvial flooding, which is the largest flood risk and one that often catches people off guard.
Pete and Avi discuss the main types of flooding and how they impact preparedness. How Previsico's flood warning system differs from government warning systems. How Previsico's solution predicts surface flooding using event-specific modeling and sensors. The company’s expansion to the U.S. and globally. Integrating with insurers and their risk management services. Challenges and opportunities for insurers and their customers as they shift emphasis on prevention. And the importance of communication between insurers and their customers to effectively mitigate risks.
Resources:
Previsico website: https://previsico.com/
Predict & Prevent website: www.predictandprevent.org
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter
-
Preventing distracted driving can dramatically reduce the volume of vehicle collisions, saving lives and reducing claims costs.
In the latest episode of the Predict & Prevent podcast, Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, sits down with Dr. Stefan Heck, CEO and Founder of Nauto, to discuss the future of transportation safety and the role of AI in preventing collisions. Stefan shared insights into Nauto's mission to reduce collision rates by two-thirds and provide invaluable data for insurers, vehicle manufacturers and companies with commercial fleets.
Pete and Stefan discuss why driver distraction is Nauto’s focus. How collision statistics undercount the prevalence of distracted driving. The role of AI and deep learning in collision prevention. Nauto’s technology and methodology. Challenges and opportunities with insurance integration. And the future of automotive safety.
Resources:
Nauto website: https://www.nauto.com/
Predict & Prevent website: www.predictandprevent.org
Sign up for our weekly Predict & Prevent newsletter: www.predictandprevent.org/newsletter
-
Where are advances in technology taking data and analytics and enhancing our ability to prevent potential losses? In this episode, host Pete Miller, CEO of The Institutes, talks with Nancy Greco, a Distinguished Engineer with IBM Research, about the evolution of risk data and artificial intelligence to predict and prevent losses that can disrupt operations. In the second half of the episode, Miller sits down with Matthew Kahn, President of Risk & Insurance, to review some of the key takeaways from the first season of the podcast and moderates an ask me anything (AMA) segment with Miller.
Segment 1: (02:30) In the first segment, Pete and Nancy discuss her career and role at IBM, the drivers shaping the evolution of risk data, a shift in focus to loss prediction, using Boston Dynamics’ robotic dog Spot in data collection, the advances brought by AI in data analysis, the promise of foundation models of AI, and achieving real-time loss intervention through AI.
Segment 1: (28:24) In the next segment, Pete and Matthew reflect on how the topics covered in season 1 of the podcast align with real world challenges, a growing emphasis on risk prevention, technological advances that aid risk management, the advantages of real-time data, the evolving landscape of insurance, the need for community and industry collaboration, demonstrating the ROI of adopting prevention tech, and the future of the predict and prevent model. They also field questions from our audience on predict and prevent.
-
A focus on prevention is just as critical to the success of a nearly 200-year old property insurer and its customers, as it is for a robotics startup that eliminates the fuel that allows wildfires to spread. In this episode, Pete talks with Randy Hodge, executive vice president, staff insurance operations for FM Global, and Anukool Lakhina, CEO and co-founder of BurnBot, about how each organization applies research and technology to proactively mitigate climate risk and make businesses and communities more resilient.
Segment 1: (01:52) Pete and Randy discuss how FM Global was founded on a belief that most losses are preventable, the benefits of pairing risk engineering with research, ideal customers aligned with insurer's philosophy of loss prevention, creating resilience credit to mitigate climate risk exposures, expanding suite of climate risk data and insights, adopting aerial imagery and AI for remote risk analysis, and the importance of investing in research to stay ahead of evolving risks.
Segment 2: (27:59) Pete talks with Anukool about personal wildfire experience that led he and his wife to create Wonder Labs, charting the intersection between disasters and emerging technology, using BurnBot’s advanced robotics to scale fuel treatment, the imbalance in resources for prevention vs. recovery, increasing investment in wildfire prevention innovations, and how insurance can incentivize fuel breaks and fuel treatments to harden landscapes.
-
Whether it’s making a community more resilient to disasters or helping an employer to reduce accidents in the warehouse, having the right data is key to focusing prevention efforts where they will have the greatest ROI. Join Host Pete Miller as he talks with Daniel Kaniewski, Managing Director-Public Sector of Marsh & McLennan and former deputy administrator of FEMA, and Alex Senemar, CEO and Co-Founder of Voxel AI, on how they are each working to transform the status quo and make communities and employees safer, and reduce the toll of paying for preventable losses.
Segment 1 (2:25): Pete and Daniel discuss a foundation of preparedness, mitigation and insurance, how FEMA shifted its focus to resilience from recovery, growing financial support for pre-disaster hazard mitigation, identifying other stakeholders vested in resilience, the importance of incentives, communicating the ROI of resilience, and the urgent need to close the resilience gap.
Segment 2 (21:59): Pete and Alex talk about the inspiration for Voxel AI, integrating artificial intelligence and computer vision technology within existing workflows, a comprehensive view of safety risks and hazards in real time, capturing near misses to identify preventable losses, effectively measuring improvements in safety, and building collaborations to inspire and reward safer behavior.
-
Improving risk data not only helps predict potential losses but also makes it possible to incentivize and measure risk prevention. In this episode, Pete talks with Kevin Stein, CEO and Co-Founder at Delos Insurance, and Sean Petterson, CEO and Founder of StrongArm Technologies, about how they are using data for insights that can predict potential losses from wildfires and unsafe worker activities.
Segment 1: (0:02:14) Pete and Kevin discuss how risk models aren’t keeping up with changes in wildfires, the power of AI for more precise forecasts, using data for mitigation recommendations and incentives, insurance challenges caused by deficient data, and why insurance must remain open to new approaches.
Segment 2: (0:27:57) Pete talks with Sean about his personal motivation to make workers safer, pivoting to wearables for actionable data, ergonomic movement analysis, real-time worker feedback to prevent risk, changing culture key to safety innovation, and using data to show the ROI of injury prevention.
-
Insurance regulators are important partners as insurers offer consumers new services that move beyond detect and repair to Predict & Prevent. Guest host Frank Tomasello, executive director of The Institutes’ Griffith Foundation, speaks with Elizabeth Kelleher Dwyer, Director of the Department of Business Regulation for Rhode Island, and Andrew Mais, Insurance Commissioner for Connecticut, on how they each balance consumer protection without stifling innovation.
Segment 1: (00:03:06) Frank and Director Dwyer, who also serves as the top insurance regulator in Rhode Island and is chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (H) Working Group, discuss how insurers cannot respond to growing risks alone, encouraging consumer resilience, regulatory embrace of technology and innovation, clarifying rebating laws for mitigation, and working closely with insurtechs.
Segment 2: (00:18:55) Frank and Commissioner Mais, President-elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, explore the challenges posed by climate risks, the value of a more collaborative approach, how consumers benefit from innovation, the ROI of risk mitigation, promoting consumer education about risk, and working toward a better future.
-
IoT sensors are proving their worth by preventing small problems from becoming big losses. In this episode, Pete Miller talks with George Chedraoui, Senior Director, Corporate Risk & Resilience for Highwoods Properties Inc., and Sean Ringsted, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Business Officer of Chubb Group, on how on how each is realizing big benefits from deploying smart water sensors.
Segment 1: (00:02:45): Pete and George discuss Highwoods’ success with smart water sensors in its commercial office buildings, pivoting from small pilot to wider rollout, training as critical success factor, preventing a loss demonstrates the ROI, taking a more holistic view of risks, and opportunities to integrate technology in risk management strategy.
Segment 2 (00:19:12): Pete and Sean take a deep dive into the future for water peril mitigation, Chubb's acquisition of StreamLabs technology, empowering proactive risk management, critical lessons from sensor deployments, embedding technology into insurance value chain, and gaining powerful new insights for risk prevention and pricing.
-
Sensors and data-driven intelligence platforms are foundational technologies that can identify hidden dangers and help prevent losses. In this episode, Pete Miller talks with Bob Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Whisker Labs, and with Dave Tobias, Co-Founder and COO of Betterview, about these two different approaches.
Segment 1 (00:03:08): Bob Marshall is the co-inventor of Ting, an innovative plug-in sensor that is deployed in millions of U.S. homes and helps to detect electrical issues that could cause fires. Pete and Bob discuss how tragedy led to invention, high risk of silent electrical hazards, AI-driven continuous learning, fire prevention as driver of customer loyalty, simplicity is key to adoption, and transforming insurance customer relationship.
Segment 2 (00:21:49): Betterview is a property intelligence platform used by underwriters for scoring various property risks. Pete and Dave talk about Dave’s lifetime in insurance, the hunt for deep and meaningful roof data, his passion for predict and prevent, scaling with technology, adapting to insurance workflows, changing the value drivers of insurance, and finding the next risk prevention opportunity.
-
The rapidly evolving risk landscape demands a more proactive and collaborative approach to risk management. In this episode, Pete Miller and Sean Kevelighan, President and CEO of the Insurance Information Institute, discuss why Predict & Prevent is needed now more than ever to prevent losses and promote resilience.
Segment 1 (00:02:18): Pete and Sean discuss the disruption continuum, the increasing frequency and severity of losses, reining in bad behavior, the danger to society of doing nothing, proving the ROI of resilience, why collective responsibility is essential, how technology plays a pivotal role, embedding risk management in our lives, and government's part in resilience.
Segment 2 (00:20:51): Pete and Sean consider why a change in mindset is imperative, Sean shares a personal experience with misperceptions of risk, how FEMA is revising its mission, reimagining insurance's purpose, how policymakers see consumer benefits from P&P, and creating new career opportunities.
-
Predict & Prevent, presented by The Institutes, explores an emerging strategy of harnessing technology and prioritizing resiliency to combat the biggest risk challenges facing society. Host Peter Miller, President and CEO of The Institutes, and leading experts will examine how traditional risk management, which relies heavily on insurance and detecting and repairing after a loss occurs, is transitioning to Predict & Prevent to keep up with a changing risk landscape. The eight-episode season will establish what a Predict & Prevent strategy means, why it is urgently needed and provide a view to the future of risk management.
