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The SCOR Foundation supports and funds three new scientific research projects

scientific-research-project

The Scientific Board of the SCOR Foundation has decided to support and fund three cutting-edge scientific research projects over the next three years:

  • Fairness of predictive models: an application to insurance markets
  • Aligning competitive morbidities and causes of early onset deaths integrating new algorithms using the genetic variability
  • Green Innovation to fight Climate Change

The researchers leading these projects are each recognized internationally for their high level of scientific expertise in their respective fields and SCOR believes these projects have the potential to produce findings that are relevant even beyond the (re)insurance industry.

 

Fairness of predictive models: an application to insurance markets

The Scientific Council of the SCOR Foundation has decided to fund the research project “Fairness of predictive models: an application to insurance markets” until its anticipated completion date in three years (2023-2025). The project will be led by the University of Quebec and directed by Arthur Charpentier, professor in the mathematics department of the University of Quebec in Montreal.
This project aims to propose corrections to the automatic artificial intelligence algorithms that can be used to determine the optimal pricing of individual policies in order to remove or limit the biases likely to generate inequities or even discrimination based on gender, race, religion, origin, etc. in the coverage offered by insurers or reinsurers to policyholders. The subject is of both theoretical (better control of black boxes constituted by models based on artificial intelligence algorithms) and practical (reduction of the risks of discrimination and inequity) interest. From this point of view, it is very topical for insurers and reinsurers facing major reputational challenges in the context of the growing importance of social networks.
In addition to his role at the University of Quebec, Arthur Charpentier is a member of the Institute of Actuaries, internationally recognized expert in actuarial science, author of numerous academic articles published in renowned academic actuarial journals in both nationally and internationally.

 

Green Innovation to fight Climate Change

The Scientific Council of the SCOR Foundation has decided to fund the “Green Innovation to fight Climate Change” research project for the next three years (2023-2025). The project will be led by Philippe Aghion, professor at the Collège de France and INSEAD.
This project aims to understand the role of the state, civil society, and the market in the process of energy transition towards clean technologies. It aims to specify how these different actors could, together, encourage companies to redirect production and innovation towards clean technologies. Within the framework of the Schumpeterian approach, the goal will be to identify the optimal micro- and macro-economic factors such as the price of carbon, subsidies for green innovation, the use of energy sources less polluting intermediaries (in particular nuclear), the role of investors, and the place of the consumer. The project is divided into seven sub-projects and is particularly interesting from the point of view of asset management for (re)insurance companies. It is also interesting from a perspective of educational awareness of the key role of technical progress – and therefore of innovative growth – in the fight against global warming.
The project is led by Philippe Aghion, professor at the Collège de France and INSEAD, who is widely considered one of the best economists in the world, if not the best, on the questions of growth, investment and technical progress. He publishes regularly in the most selective international journals (American Economic Review, etc.). This project will run for three years (2023-2025).

 

Aligning competitive morbidities and causes of early onset deaths integrating new algorithms using the genetic variability

The Scientific Council of the SCOR Foundation has decided to fund the research project “Aligning competitive morbidities and causes of early onset deaths integrating new algorithms using the genetic variability” for the next two years (2023-2024). The project will be led by Professor Olivier Cussenot, Professor of Urology and Director of the Center for Research on Prostatic and Urological Pathologies (CeRePP) in Paris.
The goal of this project is to integrate genetic markers into the estimation of competitive morbidity and mortality from a database, apparently unique in the world, of three cohorts of men followed for twenty years. Furthermore, the project aims to define subsets of genetic markers and predictive algorithms that could be useful in personalized screening, intervention, and prevention and offer insights on useful strategies for causal inference in prostate diseases. This project will call on various fields of research and will require collaboration on technical fronts, in particular fields relating to oncology; cardiovascular and degenerative diseases; the analysis of genetic factors; the development of predictive models using, among other things, artificial intelligence and deep-learning; risks and socio-environmental factors; and recent developments in precision medicine.
The project is led by Professor Olivier Cussenot, Professor of Urology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and at the University of Oxford, Director of the CeRePP, and former Director of the Department of urology at the APHP. The project will last for two years (2023-2025).