On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2022. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Paul ↗
In their words
We like risk, we take risk. But it's interesting: we only understand risk after sitting back and studying stuff for maybe 20 years, getting a bunch of data that comes through that we can really analyze to death, and then we can begin to understand it and price it. One of the things that we've learned is the world of startups is not 20 years.
There's value in focus. Pick quickly, pick the areas where there's payoff and a win, and then focus on those, because there's plenty of opportunity for distraction out there.
This particular one is a team game, and we are absolutely convinced that there's lots of innovation, probably a few mistakes and readjustments and a bit of agility. But this is the area where I would be saying, how do we manage risk in this transition world?
More from TechTO ×1
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
Who is Paul Fletcher?
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Aviva Canada, leading distribution operations, marketing, sustainability, communications and government relations. He joined Aviva Canada in 2001 from Aviva in the UK, and has held senior roles there in regional training, strategy and business transformation, broker distribution and commercial lines.
What did he talk about at TechTO?
Why an insurer builds an accelerator. Aviva ran the Safe & Connected programme with Highline Beta after concluding that road injuries — he cited 150,000 people hurt on Canadian roads a year — were a problem it saw the aftermath of daily and could help reduce with startup technology.
What did Aviva learn from working with startups?
Two things, in his account: that an insurer's 20-year cycle of studying data before it understands a risk is nothing like a startup's pace, and that a large company's instinct to shape and control does not work in that setting. He also warned that good technology creates too many possible applications, so focus is worth more than options.
What is Aviva's climate commitment?
He described a target of net zero as an insurance company by 2040 and within its own operations by 2030, and said Aviva would collaborate with organisations of any size and with governments to get there — the commitment being made, he said, ahead of knowing the path.