INSURTECH (or insurance tech) is gaining prominence.

On Monday, NTUC Income unveiled "Income Future Starter, Powered by TAG.PASS", an accelerator programme to foster business innovation in the insurance sector.

It will be launched in partnership with Infocomm Investments Private Ltd (IIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, under IIPL's trademark TAG.PASS accelerator programme. This is believed to be the first partnership between an insurer in Singapore and IIPL.

An 11-week programme, "Income Future Starter, Powered by TAG.PASS" aims to support and grow 12 startups from around the world with a "unique business" or the "potential to collaboratively disrupt" the insurance industry.

It has identified six areas of focus: to enhance claims experience and processing; combat fraudulent claims; conduct central needs analysis for customers; robo advisor; peer-to-peer insurance; and integrated customer data analytics.

Each startup will receive a S$28,000 equity-free entrepreneur grant, in addition to mentorship from relevant specialists who will offer deep domain expertise and industry insights as part of the accelerator's structured curriculum.

Application to the accelerator programme begins on Monday and will close on Oct 9. The first batch of startups is set to be announced in November and the accelerator will kick-start in January 2017, culminating in a Demo Day in March 2017.