The acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies and their applications are revolutionizing industries from transportation to healthcare, developing breakthroughs that are changing our daily lives and human-machine interactions. Changes in weather patterns, oceans, sea level rise, and catastrophic risk amplify the need for accelerated AI research and transition to practical use for decision-making to prepare, mitigate, and build resilience before, during, and after disasters. As recent studies have concluded (Sun et al, 2020), applications of artificial intelligence for disaster management have faced challenges, from data quality to data availability to train models, biases, or AI that has performed well in research environments yet fails in at-scale production environments. In addition, access to high performance computing (HPC) and infrastructure able to handle massive volumes and velocities of data can be cost prohibitive especially for local jurisdictions with limited budgets. The advancement of HPC in the cloud, marked reduction on hardware, and open source technologies are breaking down barriers and unleashing an AI revolution that disaster managers must harness to save lives, reduce catastrophic risk, and build resilient communities. In this keynote, our speaker will discuss the risks and rewards of AI for catastrophes and highlight the bright future ahead for our industry.

Flooding is a top (re)insurance CAT-driver worldwide, and Canada is no exception to that rule. Set against the canvas of a changing climate, understanding the risk posed by all types of flooding events is a more formidable challenge than ever before. And yet, that understanding remains key to planning a resilient future for Canada's communities. This panel features experts from public and private sector agencies working to tackle this problem, leveraging the latest mapping and modelling technology in Canada and abroad.

Canada has a history of destructive earthquakes, but there remains significant uncertainty regarding the likelihood and impact of future events. In addition, risks are increasing in urban areas due to increases in population and built infrastructure. At the same time, NRCan has just released the new 2020 National Seismic Hazard Model for Canada, which indicates significantly higher levels of ground shaking hazard in several major urban areas relative to the 2015 hazard map, and is nearing the completion of the first public national earthquake risk model. This panel will provide insights into the development of these new models, how they may influence risk models for the insurance sector, and the implications of new models for a broad range of risk management or disaster reduction applications. The panel will also discuss the importance of open data, transparency in model development, and the benefits of international collaboration.

Despite activity in Canada in 2020 falling below recent averages, wildfire remains a significant concern within the (re)insurance industry. The heightened wildfire activity of the past several years has corresponded with an acceleration in our knowledge and abilities regarding wildfire risk quantification, structural and community resiliency, and loss modeling capabilities. In this session we will hear from several experts discussing their work that has advanced our understanding of wildfire and helped bring clarity and quantification to a chaotic peril. Empowered with a greater understanding of wildfire as a catastrophic peril the (re)insurance industry will be able to proceed into the 2020s with the confidence to make informed risk management decisions and develop resiliency strategies to diminish future potential losses.

2020 will go into the history books as both one-of-a-kind and the same old, same old. While a global pandemic paused many aspects of our lives, catastrophes gave us no reprieve. Natural catastrophe records were broken globally, including some right in our backyard. Though 2020 was a year of exceptions in many ways, it falls right in line with the past decade when it comes to Canada's increasing trend of annual catastrophic loss. Our first panel of the day will discuss Canada's record-setting CAT year in detail, reviewing the events that pushed 2020's insured losses toward CAN $2.5 billion.

2020 brought profound change in the operating environment for insurance companies. The panel will explore the implications of these changes for the management of catastrophe claims. What is the current state of the industry? How have insurance companies, reinsurers and brokers responded to change over the past year? What is the new ‘normal’ for the industry, with a focus on management of cat hazards? The pandemic has increased awareness of low probability / high consequence hazards, what are the implications for the insurance industry? How will extraordinary spending by governments affect their financial and political capacity to address other issues? In particular, what might we expect from the government to address climate change? Why has the pandemic increased the importance of legal wording of coverage? Importantly, what actions best address the mental and physical health of employees?

The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated technology solutions in the insurance industry. While some companies were already invested in remote programs and automated solutions, others struggled to adapt to the sudden and unexpected shift. How are adjusters, insurers, vendors, and the overall industry continuing to meet the needs of customers through this unpredictable climate? There are success stories and challenges throughout the last year and “Business as Usual” will look different in the year ahead. The Future of Claims Adjusting will look at this period of unprecedented change, how the industry has adapted, and what to expect in 2021 and beyond.

The Supply Chain for the insurance industry is an integral component of the claim process ensuring customer satisfaction by returning them to pre-loss conditions quickly. It is also a vital ingredient for insurers and service providers in maintaining continuous operations and mitigating financial risk. In current times, when there are many potential disrupters to the Supply Chain, we will review the impacts that CAT events, Covid-19 and other potential disrupters pose and strategies being considered to protect and safe guard against disrupters of the future.

A groundswell of adaptation ambition emerged in 2020 and culminated in the global Climate Adaptation Summit. World leaders like Prime Minister Trudeau, President Biden, President Macron, Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Secretary General Antonio Guterres all attended this global Summit, underscoring the imperative for climate adaptation. Building on the success of 2020, a new opportunity has emerged to translate this high ambition into pragmatic solutions which integrates climate risk into decision-making and investments in countries and communities around the world. This panel brings together three internationally recognized adaptation experts – Alice C. Hill, Ambassador Patricia Fuller, and Don Forgeron -- to discuss the adaptation opportunities that have been unlocked in the past year. The discussion will address what lessons have been learned from 2020 on adaptation, and some of the key initiatives that will be pursued in Canada and the U.S. in the year to come.

Following a highly active year for natural catastrophes in 2020 across North America, the focus shifts to 2021. This session will give a quick overview on current ENSO projections, and how that phenomenon may provide some clues as to what Mother Nature could bring for the rest of the year.