Related Insurance Event

Working Meeting, Computational Contracts: The Foundation For 21st Century Insurance Products
April 6, 2022

The insurance industry is facing increasing pressures to digitize its business processes, creating computable insurance products. A critical element in this is the ability to automate insurance contracts, which play a central role in defining the bargain of the policy and in establishing the processes that govern claim administration. A “computable contract” is one that is specified in sufficient detail and clarity to provide unambiguous answers to questions about compliance of clearly specified circumstances with the terms and conditions of the contract. Computable contracts will provide the foundation for computer systems that support computable insurance products.

The Stanford CodeX Insurance Initiative is exploring this field through a combination of research, application, and community building. This working meeting will explore the business, technical and regulatory opportunities and challenges that we need to consider in moving into the new world of digital insurance.
We believe that developing computable insurance products, with automated computable contracts at their heart, will provide the foundation for a systematic modernization of all aspects of the insurance business. Potential benefits include:

  • Automation, with nearly instant coverage checks and streamlined claim administration.
  • Transparency, enabling improved risk analytics and compliance reporting.
  • Predictability, reducing the ambiguity of some paper contracts.
  • Reflectivity, as an automated computable contract “knows” what inputs and outputs are required.
  • Flexibility, as an automated computable contract can be accessed by a number of different interfaces depending on the needs and standpoint of the user.

We believe that successful adopters of computable insurance products will capture the kind of market advantage that digitally-powered disrupters are seizing in many other industries.

The sessions will have designated presenters and panelists drawn from business, academia and the regulatory community. A more complete schedule, setting out the presenters, will be circulated closer to the date. The schedule will also allow considerable opportunity for group conversation and participation. In particular, we invite participants to consider demonstrating working contract languages and platforms for computable insurance products. If this is of interest, please contact Oliver Goodenough at ogoodenough@vermontlaw.edu to explore possibilities.

This is an invitation-only event, if you are interested in joining, please contact tech@law.stanford.edu.

 

Agenda (subject to change):
8:30 am Coffee & Pastry
9:00 am Welcome and Introductions
9:30 am Vision and Agenda Setting
9:45 am Panel 1: Challenges and Strategies for Implementing Insurance Contracts and Policies in Code
11:00 am Break
11:15 am Panel 2: Regulatory and Legal Aspects
12:00 pm Lunch
12:45 pm Introducing CodeX Insurance Initiative Research and Technology
1:30 pm Applications, User Experience and Technology Roll Out
3:00 pm Break
3:15 pm Community Building: An Organization and Other Next Steps?
3:45 pm Wrap Up and Next Steps
4:00 pm Sociability