Solera invest $5m in Chinese training facility
Solera Holdings today announced it will invest USD $5 million to advance the rapidly growing Chinese automobile insurance market with the creation of the country’s first Solera Technology Center (‘STC’) research facility. The STC was created as a joint venture in 2011 between Solera and leading global insurer MAPFRE to help modernize the insurance ecosystems of growing and emerging countries throughout the world with data-based science, predictive software, and technology-focused education and training for the P&C industry.
The STC has already provided comprehensive technical training for nearly 2,000 Chinese professionals who work within the vehicle insurance, repair and appraisal industries. In October of this year, it will officially open the Beijing research facility designed to collect and analyze critical automotive data that advances vehicle safety, improves insurance claims efficiency, and balances underwriting economics. The facility will enable the collection of technical car and repair data, the creation of traffic accident reconstruction reports, the development of car ratings for the insurance industry, training for insurers and repairers, and certification for repair shops.
‘STC is the first to announce a multi-million dollar investment to build an advanced vehicle research center to help modernize the Chinese car insurance industry,’ said Tony Aquila, Solera’s founder, chairman and CEO. ‘Although China will soon become the second largest auto insurance market in the world, it is still in the early stages of adopting technology and software to respond to claims inflation with risk-based pricing models. STC China will work to enhance insurer margins by delivering accurate information systems, education programs and global industry standards to all insurance companies in China.’
Solera was founded in 2005 to bring about a digital evolution of the insurance industry. By combining data-based intelligence and life-driven experiences, Solera’s technologies empower insurers and their customers to make the most accurate, transparent and confident decisions when buying, protecting and selling life’s most important assets. By leveraging the combined power of their data, software and leadership within the global auto insurance technology market, Solera and MAPFRE established the first STC in Madrid, Spain with a strategic mission to create safer, more intelligent and more enjoyable car ownership ecosystems throughout the world.
‘We are proud to partner with Solera to help bring technology-centric auto insurance systems and training to fast-growing markets such as China,’ said Ignacio Juarez, managing director of CESVIMAP, the vehicle safety research facility of MAPFRE. ‘The state-of-the-art research facility we are constructing in Beijing will serve as a model for future STC initiatives worldwide.’
More information about the grand opening of the STC in Beijing, China will be available in October 2015.
