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In today's society， driven by the new quality productivity， the revolution of the insurance industry has begun， and countless emerging scientific and technological forces are comprehensively empowering the insurance industry in the new era．
Insurance is a subfield of finance， and Insurance Technology （InsurTech） naturally falls under the umbrella of Financial Technology （FinTech） as an important branch． InsurTech inherits some characteristics of FinTech while also possessing its own unique features．
According to the Financial Stability Board's definition of financial technology as“new business models， applications， processes， or products introduced through technological innovation that have a profound impact on financial markets， financial institutions， and the provision of financial services”， it is evident that InsurTech embodies the combination of technology and insurance． Furthermore， as InsurTech is still in its early stages of development， there are various interpretations of its definition， reflecting differing perspectives and insights．
InsurTech is the branch of Fintech in the insurance sector and is the sum of various emerging technologies and innovative business models that have the potential to transform the insurance business．
There is currently no agreed definition of insurance technology across various sectors．However， there is a general consensus that emphasizes the significant role of emerging technologies in the insurance field and their impact on the entire insurance industry．
InsurTech follows the nature of insurance， takes data as the basis and technology as the means to serve the insurance industry， so as to reduce the cost of the insurance industry and improve the efficiency of the industry．
In summary，“insurance technology” refers to the integration of various innovative technologies containing new productive forces （ such as Big Data， cloud computing， Internet of Things， artificial intelligence， Blockchain， robotics， biotechnology， etc．） with the insurance industry to create a sum of new insurance models， applications， and products． In other words，insurance technology is the product of the deep integration of new productive forces with the insurance industry．
In order to promote the development of technology in the financial sector， particularly in the field of insurance technology， the central government has introduced a series of policies to facilitate this advancement． These policies have paved the way for the development of insurance technology in China at a macro level． In January 2022， the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission （It has been restructured as China's National Financial Regulatory Administration ） issued the “Guiding Opinions on the Digital Transformation of the Banking and Insurance Industries”． This guidance covers initiatives ranging from encouraging full-process online insurance services to accelerating the digitalization， onlineization， and intelligence transformation， ultimately setting clear goals for the digital transformation of insurance by 2025， laying a solid foundation for technological progress in the insurance industry．
In the above policy background， China's insurance companies continue to test insurance technology． In 2013， China's first Internet insurance company was established， marking the beginning of a comprehensive transformation of insurance business to the Internet． Since its inception， the insurance company has adopted the strategy of “insurance ＋ technology” and is committed to using technology to reshape the entire insurance value chain． The company has introduced intelligent underwriting technology in the core underwriting link， launched personalized protection products for people with three high and chronic diseases， and provided solutions for users who were previously difficult to obtain protection． In addition， the insurance company's health insurance claims process is 96％ online， a claim settlement is completed every 9 seconds， and 95％ of cases have achieved direct claims．
In recent years， a large domestic insurance company and other major insurance companies have basically realized the online operation of the property insurance sales end through digital transformation． From underwriting needs， to pricing， to sales orders， and subsequent valueadded services and core claims services， users can complete the entire process directly online．At the same time， the call centers of many leading insurance companies in China are using RPA robots and artificial intelligence technology to replace traditional manual services， significantly improving the efficiency of business development and reducing operating costs． In addition， some advanced insurance companies have completed the digital restructuring of the entire process from underwriting， security services， claims to value-added services． With the customer journey at its core， some insurance companies have implemented the entire process of digital transformation， marking a significant improvement in the quality and efficiency of insurance services．
A vice president of a domestic insurance group said that at present， more than 90％ of the business of many companies has achieved lock-out． Through the application of ChatGPT and other technologies， a domestic insurance group has achieved significant service efficiency improvement in three aspects of service， management and sales， and has significantly replaced traditional manual operations． At the same time， the company also cooperates with the social big data platform， adopts the method of risk factor labeling， and realizes the personalized pricing strategy of “ one person， one price” for each customer． In the field of auto insurance claims， the insurance group is able to handle small vehicle loss cases in a matter of seconds by combining data analysis and mining models， as well as introducing picture automatic loss determination and small personal injury automatic loss determination technology．
Meanwhile， the domestic capital market is highly optimistic about the prospects of insurance technology development， with a substantial amount of capital flowing into the insurance technology sector each year to support its technological research and development． From 2012 to 2019， the number of financing transactions in this field in China has reached 300， with a total financing amount exceeding 12 billion yuan， as shown in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1 The number and amount of investment and financing in InsurTech in China from 2012 to 2019
Source：China Insurance Technology Insight Report 2020 released by Beijing Fintech Research Institute．
Since 2015， the scale of China's insurance technology market has shown an increasing trend year by year． By 2020， the market size of China's InsurTech has exceeded 90 billion yuan， and the average growth rate in recent years has exceeded 10％， as shown in Figure 1.2.At present， China has become the hot spot of insurance technology financing after Europe and the United States， and the development of domestic insurance technology is stable and good．
Figure 1.2 Scale of China's InsurTech market and the growth rate
Source：Xu Zhongjing． Insurance technology industry analysis report ［ D］． Changsha：Central South Forestry University， 2022.）
Based on the above introduction， the prospects of InsurTech are self-evident． Insurance technology will not only comprehensively improve customers' insurance experience， open up a broader insurance market， breed more accurate risk management methods， but also lead the reform of insurance supervision．
First of all， InsurTech will bring synergies to the development of the insurance industry，bring huge business growth to insurance companies， and play a 1＋1＞2 effect． For example，combining traditional auto insurance with connected vehicle technology can not only further develop UBI auto insurance， but also comprehensively enhance the insurance experience of customers．
Secondly， insurance technology will move the claims service forward， not only improve the viscosity between insurance companies and policyholders， but also help policyholders better accident prevention， reduce the probability of accidents and the corresponding loss and compensation， and breed a more accurate risk management method．
Finally， the development of insurance technology will also promote the upgrading of regulatory technology and methods， leading to a comprehensive reform of the insurance regulatory model．
I believe that in the future， with the blessing of scientific and technological innovation，insurance will no longer be just a financial security product， but a new ecosystem that can help people cope with disasters and risks．