Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology has become a major engine for economic growth. As an enabling technology it encompasses many disciplines and industries. The challenge is to master an increasing variety of nano-enabled products, and to identify potentially harmful properties that are currently neither well analysed, described or understood, nor regulated or differentiated from other, safe properties.
Swiss Re has dedicated resources to assess the potential risks and manage possible exposures to nanotechnology. The company promotes the development of tailored risk management principles and actively steers its business accordingly. It supports regulatory efforts to prevent increased exposure and ensure a balanced public dialogue on possible risks.
Nanotechnology is dynamic, global, and complex in scope. Progress is gathering pace and nano-based products are increasingly used in both industrial intermediates and consumer goods. As a result, currently covered nanotechnology risks affect an ever wider variety of insurance policies and reinsurance treaties, and influence return on assets.
Since Swiss Re first addressed nanotechnology as an emerging risk in 2004, science, industry and regulators have stepped up their efforts to obtain a clearer picture about undesirable side-effects of nanomaterials and measures to govern risks appropriately. Swiss Re has been involved in several of these international initiatives, providing its views and findings for the purpose of an overarching, comprehensive picture.
As the leading reinsurance risk carrier, Swiss Re strives to be at the forefront of efforts to identify and understand the insurability challenges posed by nanotechnology and other emerging risks. This is a vital element in safeguarding its clients over the long-term against the financial consequences of adverse events, and to enable the economy and society at large to take the risks that allow them to move forward.
"It is absolutely fascinating to see how science is learning to build a new "nanoverse". Room for discovery seems almost as limitless as in space. Future diversity in the "nanoverse", however, also harbours possible new threats. Despite the multitude of interdisciplinary and international efforts, the typical nanotechnology risks have not been determined yet, and will never have a simple common denominator. Uncertainties - in particular those which pose new liabilities - remain to be resolved without preconceptions or general suspicion, in order to enable societal progress and economic success." Thomas Epprecht
Related links
Further reading
- Nanotechnology - small matter, many unknowns
- Conference report 2005
- Swiss Re on risk
- ISO Focus article: Nanotechnology
Related issues
- Genetic engineering and liability insurance. The power of public perception
- International Biotechnology Forum 2003 - conference report
- Electrosmog – a phantom risk
- The risk landscape of the future
