By FINTECH Books Contributor, Pauline Barratt Innovations such as artificial intelligence are beginning to make driverless cars a reality. The smart phone and social media are changing the way in which we communicate and integrate. Changes like these are having a profound impact on the shape of society, our politics and the functioning of our economy. Klaus Schwab, founder WEF, refers to it as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Change poses many challenges as well as opportunities. Through our creativity we will shape how our society, our culture and our businesses change but in doing so we need to focus more on resilience. Insurance has a crucial role to play in acting as the backbone of a more economic and socially resilient world. It is no accident that great investors such as Warren Buffett, above all, focus on not losing money. It can be very difficult to recover, if at all, from events that cause material capital losses. These come in many forms from war to natural disasters or intangible damage to brands or reputations. The challenges are both psychological and educational as companies are not focused enough on the many risks that threaten their resilience. The unexpected scale of losses from the 2011 Thai floods was a good example; economic losses were nearly double the insured losses. Individuals are just as poorly insured; only 10% of Californians have earthquake cover. The growth in Cyber insurance has shown that insurers have the ability to respond to new risks. Lloyd’s of London has played a constructive role in helping (re)insurers gain a sense of the potential exposures so that mitigating solutions and tailored covers can be developed where it might otherwise have not been possible. However, as (re)insurers don’t know the cost of goods sold at sale it remains a significant challenge. Governments and World organisations play a crucial role but the scale of the opportunity for (re)insurers is huge. Insurtech belongs right at the centre, therein lies the challenge!