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With the continuous progress of human science and technology and the constant change of people's demand for insurance， the insurance technology industry has emerged．
Insurance plays an irreplaceable role in dealing with disasters and accidents， protecting personal property and life safety， maintaining social stability and promoting economic development． However， the insurance industry has long faced the following insurmountable difficulties，which hinder its sustainable development．
Information asymmetry is a situation in which one of the two parties involved in an economic transaction has more accurate information than the other． Information asymmetry will bring two major problems to the development of insurance industry， one being adverse selection and the other， moral hazard．
On the one hand， in the insurance industry， information asymmetry is reflected in the insurer's lack of understanding of the risks the subject matter of insurance． Due to the inability to accurately distinguish the risk status of the insured， who may deliberately conceal its own risk status in order to reduce premium expenditure， the insurer may have a deviation in risk pricing， and cannot determine the insurance rate objectively and fairly， and then adverse selection will occur．
On the other hand， in the insurance industry， information asymmetry is also reflected in the lack of understanding of insurance products and insurance clauses． Compared with insurance companies， the insurance applicant usually has only an intuitive， superficial and one-sided understanding of the insurance products， and is often at an information disadvantage in the process of buying insurance products． At the same time， as an insurance agent connecting the insurance company and the customer， they may make subjective concealment or cheat the customer for the sake of performance， which will aggravate the information asymmetry between the two sides of the transaction．
In addition， information asymmetry is also reflected in the process of insurance claims and insurance supervision． Some types of insurance， due to the characteristics of the subject matter of insurance being seasonal or easy to lose after damage， not only lead to insurance companies difficult to verify the authenticity of claims， but also increase the difficulty of regulatory authorities to verify violations．
Compared with other industries， the insurance industry has the characteristics of high intermediary agent costs． According to the data provided by the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission， the premium income of China's insurance industry in 2019 was 4.3 trillion yuan， of which 3.74 trillion yuan was achieved through intermediary channels， accounting for 86.98％ of the total premium． It can be seen that insurance intermediary is still the absolute channel of insurance sales， and insurance companies will pay high agency costs every year． High commission will inevitably increase the price of insurance， reduce people's demand for insurance products， and restrict the development of insurance industry．
At the same time， computing power construction， data storage， customer management，loss settlement， legal proceedings， dispute resolution， fraud prevention all require a lot of manpower， material resources and financial resources． In addition， because insurance related data information cannot be shared， insurance companies have to pay additional costs when obtaining relevant data information．
In short， the high cost will not only directly affect the solvency of insurance companies，but also reduce the asset scale of insurance companies and investment in other areas of insurance companies．
The problem of low efficiency of insurance operation mainly occurs in underwriting and claims settlement． Taking health insurance underwriting as an example， the insurance company will first understand the customer's insurance purpose and motivation， living habits， past medical history， family medical history， occupation， working environment， financial status and other basic information， and conduct a preliminary audit． In the case that the preliminary audit cannot make the underwriting judgment， the underwriting staff will further collect information，such as asking for medical records of previous illnesses， recent physical examination results，outpatient medical records， medical insurance card records， etc．， and carry out investigations according to the data． Finally， the underwriting conclusion is given according to the actual situation of the customer and the underwriting requirements of the insurance contract． In the whole underwriting process， a large number of repetitive and cumbersome review work relies on manpower and consumes a lot of resources． In the claims process， from the customer report to the final payment needs to go through a lengthy claims process， which takes either a few weeks or a few months． If there is a disagreement between the insurance company and the policyholder due to the claim conditions， disclaimer clauses， etc．， there may be more twists and turns． Such a time-consuming and cumbersome claim settlement undoubtedly degrades the user experience to some extent．
With the continuous enhancement of consumer insurance awareness， the demand for insurance products and services among consumers is also increasing． The information of insurance clients is becoming more and more extensive and complex． When facing such an environment，insurance professionals and agents need to accurately classify customer groups and recommend the most suitable insurance products to them through appropriate channels from a large number of insurance products． This not only meets the personalized needs of customers， but also improves their performance， achieving a win-win situation for both themselves and policyholders．
Looking at the existing insurance products in the market， the homogenization phenomenon is relatively serious， and the insurance products launched by various insurance companies are almost indistinguishable in terms of coverage， claim conditions， premium prices， even marketing channels and methods of insurance． Homogenized products make most insurance companies lack core competitiveness， innovation， and differentiation， which result in unattractive products and are difficult to meet the diversified and personalized insurance needs of customers．From the perspective of marketing， the main reason leading to the homogenization of product development is that the product design and development of insurance companies are disconnected from the market demand． According to Porter's Five Forces model， providing differentiated products and services is an important means for enterprises to gain competitive advantages in the fierce market competition， and the difficulty of insurance product innovation undoubtedly restricts the development of the insurance industry．
Traditional insurance pricing methods are usually based on a comprehensive assessment of the risk of the whole population， and calculate the average incidence and average cost to determine the cost of claims． However， this method often ignores the difference of individual risks，which may lead to the protection of individuals with higher risks only by paying the average rate， which leads to the problem of adverse selection． At the same time， there may be errors in risk estimates for newly insured individuals based on measures of past group risk．
At present， the insurance industry continues to accumulate a large amount of data， insurance data with complex， diverse and related characteristics， these factors increase the complexity of data processing． As the volume of data grows rapidly， the changes in data also increase the requirements for technology． Therefore， the traditional data processing method has been difficult to meet the demand， and the traditional insurance pricing method is relatively complex and inefficient．
Insurance fraud refers to the behavior of the applicant or the insured to knowingly provide false information or take deceptive means to obtain the insurance compensation or rights that should not be obtained． This kind of behavior not only often causes economic losses to insurance companies， but also affects the stability and healthy development of the entire insurance market． Traditional insurance fraud detection methods mainly rely on manual audit and rule engine， which is difficult to deal with complex and changeable fraud methods． The lack of advanced data analysis technology and artificial intelligence technology makes it difficult for insurance companies to detect and prevent fraud in a timely manner．
In addition to the aforementioned issues， the traditional insurance industry also faces other challenges such as customer information leakage， profitability difficulties for insurance companies， high agent attrition rates， low transaction frequency， weak customer relationships， and more．
In September 2023， General Secretary Xi Jinping first proposed the concept of “new quality productivity” during his inspection and research in Heilongjiang Province． On January 31，2024， while presiding over the 11th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee， president Xi Jinping further elaborated on the concept of “new quality productivity”． President Xi Jinping emphasized，“High-quality development requires new productivity theories to guide it， and new quality productivity has already emerged in practice， demonstrating strong driving force and support for high-quality development． It requires us to summarize and generalize theoretically to guide new development practices．” New quality productivity is an important driver for promoting high-quality economic development in China．
French economist Say believes that the ultimate driving force of economic growth comes from three basic production factors：labor， land， and capital． In contrast， advanced productivity characterized by innovation， leading away from traditional economic growth patterns and productivity development paths， with high technology， high efficiency， high quality features， and in line with new development concepts is termed as new quality productivity． The characteristics of new quality productivity are innovation， focusing on quality excellence， and essentially being advanced productivity． It relies on new production factors such as science， technology， and data combined with traditional production factors like labor， land，and capital to drive economic growth．
On the path towards building a socialist modernized strong country， insurance， as a“ballast stone of risk” and “ stabilizer of society”， bears significant responsibilities． New quality productive forces can help the traditional insurance industry solve the pain points and difficulties faced in the development process． The application of new quality productivity in the insurance industry can not only enhance the production efficiency and service quality of the insurance sector but also promote the development and innovation of the insurance market， address pain points in the traditional insurance industry development， and thereby drive the overall upgrade and transformation of the insurance industry．
Furthermore， the insurance industry can also promote the development of new quality productivity． Technology companies face various risks in the research， production， and sales processes， including intellectual property infringement， product liability， network security，and data breaches． Insurance companies can provide specialized technology insurance for technology companies to help them effectively manage these risks and ensure sustainable development． Additionally， technical personnel may face personal risks such as accidental injuries and illnesses in their work． Insurance companies can provide accident insurance， major illness insurance， medical insurance， etc．， for technical personnel with comprehensive protection for them and their families． These insurance products not only help technology companies attract and retain excellent technical talents， enhance their competitiveness and attractiveness， but also help them address complex risk challenges and ensure the steady development of their business．
In conclusion， new quality productivity is an essential path to help the insurance industry comprehensively transform and upgrade； at the same time， the insurance industry can provide comprehensive protection services for the development of new quality productivity． The two are interrelated and mutually reinforcing．
The origin of insurance technology can be traced back to the 1990s． With the development of Internet technology and mobile communication， Internet insurance has gradually emerged．The popularization of Internet and the development of digital technology have brought new opportunities and challenges to the insurance industry． The academic circles and the industry generally believe that Internet insurance is the origin of insurance technology． China's insurance technology started a little late， until 1997， with a large domestic insurance company introduced the United States CBPS life insurance integrated business system， China's insurance industry initially realized information and electronic． In the same year， the Insurance Society of China and a company in Beijing jointly established the China Insurance Information Network， which became the first insurance website in China and kicked off the prelude of domestic insurance technology． The establishment of the website laid the foundation for subsequent data analysis and customer resource integration．
At present， the development momentum of InsurTech in the world is exciting． According to CB Insight， there were only 28 InsurTech investments worldwide in 2011， totaling just ＄140 million． By 2012， the number of investments had increased to 46， totaling ＄ 350 million；In 2013， there were 63 investments totaling ＄ 270 million； There were 28 investments in 2014， with the total soaring to ＄ 870 million； In 2015， there were 122 investments totaling ＄2.67 billion． In different insurance markets， more than 60％ of US InsurTech investment is concentrated in the series A stage， and the investment scale is growing year by year． In contrast， the German market， unlike the United States， has entered the medium stage of InsurTech investment， that is， the Series B stage． From 2012 to 2016， the total amount of German InsurTech financing reached 53.52 million euros， and no less than 5 companies have received Series B financing． As a traditional insurance country， the UK saw the largest investment in InsurTech in Europe in 2016， with more than ￡15 million．
Despite starting relatively late， China's insurance technology has developed rapidly． In 2000， the “online” website opened by a domestic life insurance company pushed the development of China's insurance industry to the stage of “Internet ＋ Insurance”， which can be regarded as an early form of insurance technology．“Internet ＋ Insurance” mainly realizes the online operation of insurance business through the Internet， such as sales， insurance， underwriting，etc．， aiming to provide customers with more timely and convenient services． On this basis， the insurance industry will further integrate with other emerging technologies， empower the entire insurance value chain through scientific and technological innovation， promote the reshaping and upgrading of the insurance industry chain， and guide the “Internet ＋ Insurance” from simple scale expansion to the pursuit of higher quality development．