Gaining an edge over the competition

TO BETTER prepare for disruption in their industry, insurance group AIA has collaborated with universities, government research agencies, and worked with other industry players such as KPMG's Digital Village.

Digital Village is a collaborative ecosystem that enables the adoption of innovative solutions to adapt to specific business challenges. AIA has also accelerated more than 25 startups.

Last year, AIA tied up with Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) to launch the Edge Lab, an innovation centre which "seeks to deliver consumer-centric solutions that will help people in Singapore and around the Asia-Pacific region to get the insurance cover they need to lead longer, healthier and better lives".

A key focus of the lab is to find ways to make insurance more accessible and to better manage issues around rising healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes by leveraging technology, big data and analytics.

The Edge Lab will explore how customer experience and engagement can be improved and find ways to help the life insurance sector adapt to changing technologies, customer expectations and needs in the digital world.

To achieve this, the Edge Lab will combine commercial expertise and market access from AIA with NTU's expertise and resources in areas such as computer engineering, design, business and medicine.