Swiss Re and Microsoft have made a strategic alliance to further advance insurance innovation and extend financial protection to more people globally.

The reinsurer’s new Digital Market Centre (DMC), which will help develop next-generation, large-scale tools to transform the way the market predicts and manages risks, as well as how the market creates products.

The centre will draw on Microsoft’s Azure cloud technologies, internet of things and artificial intelligence capabilities. The first areas of application are planned to be connected vehicles and mobility, industrial manufacturing (“Industry 4.0”), and natural catastrophe resilience. The DMC will also develop cyber platforms to measure business risks.

The DMC will offer insurers a broader understanding of risks and their ripple effects on society, governments and economies.

The reinsurer said that it will soon be able to develop a deeper analysis of motor risks such as a car’s safety performance when using the latest driving assistance technologies. The data can then Swiss Re can enable insurers to design innovative new motor products, such as pay-as-you-drive covers.

The aim is also to help risk managers obtain a greater understanding of how the loss of a ship’s cargo may impact global supply chains, or how natural catastrophes will impact a government’s key infrastructure investments.

Based on these type of data insights, insurers can develop solutions that proactively mitigate losses before they occur.

Thierry Léger, chief executive Swiss Re Life Capital, said: “Swiss Re’s alliance with Microsoft will help accelerate the digital transformation of the insurance industry, with benefits across all lines of business. By building digital markets and not just isolated products, we aim to transform the way businesses approach the risks they face.”