Skees Keynote Address at 2012 Research Conference on MicroInsurance

The 2012 Research Conference on MicroInsurance was organized by the Institute for Innovation and Governance Studies, a research institute of the University of  Twente, in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as various international (research) institutes in the field of microfinance.

The potential of microinsurance as a market mechanism for the reduction of vulnerability of low income households has attracted the attention of the commercial sectors as well as donors, government and NGOs. It is recently being estimated that the global micro insurance market is worth USD 40 billion to the insurance industry and that it could reach out to 2.6 billion low income people worldwide (Swiss Re, 2010). The characteristics of this young and fast growing field imply that there is a large role to play for innovative research focusing on many different aspects of microinsurance.

The aim of the 2012 Research Conference on MicroInsurance was two-fold. First of all its objective was to assess the state of the art in microinsurance research and to provide a platform for further in-depth academic  discussions, as a complement and follow-up to the Annual International Microinsurance Conferences. In addition, the conference aimed to create a dialogue between researchers from different geographical regions and the variety of research disciplines.