By: Richard Seline
On behalf of AccelerateH2O and ResilientH2O Partners’ board and leadership, we are pleased to announce the launch of the Resilience Innovation Hub with the Insurance Information Institute representing 90% of the national and global insurance, reinsurance sector. Greater Houston has been selected as the inaugural location for the Hub as described below. For those unable to participate in last week’s second-in-a series of National Town Halls, you can see the webinar, using this link: Watch Webinar . On July 16th from 8:30am-10am, the Resilience Innovation Hub will host its first National Lightning Round program with Reverse Pitches from insurance and non-insurance executives, and then a set of Tech-Equipment-Solution Provider Pitches from local, national, and international founders. After $1 trillion in losses over the past 5-7 years due to weather- and man-made related disasters, the recent challenges from COVID-19, and imminently powerful hurricane season – the opportunity to unleash innovation through “Insurance as Economic Capital” across the US Gulf Coast and Southwest could not be more relevant.
TRIPLE-I, RESILIENTH20 PARTNERS LAUNCH RESILIENCE INNOVATION HUB
The Gulf Coast & Southwest Resilience Innovation Hub’s creation was announced on June 18 by the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) and ResilientH20 Partners and will be a key part of the Triple-I’s Resilience Accelerator initiative.
The Resilience Innovation Hub will allow private and public sector entities to collaborate and bring-to-market resilience and flood mitigation technologies. Moreover, the Hub will connect investors with governments and academic institutions while also highlighting pre-disaster mitigation success stories through a resilience portfolio and technology showcase program.
The Innovation Hub is opening effective June 18 at the Cannon’s downtown Houston Cannon Tower, a venue which already houses workspaces where entrepreneurs gather as their ventures develop. The locale, also the headquarters for ResilientH20 Partners, is at 1801 Main Street, Suite 1300, Houston, Texas 77002. The Triple-I’s Resilience Accelerator initiative is aimed at reducing the impact of extreme weather events and building more resilient communities through insurance.
“As households and businesses learn from past natural disasters, especially those which struck the U.S.’s Gulf Coast, the Resilience Innovation Hub can accelerate the deployment of products, services, and projects aimed at reducing disaster-caused losses in consultation with insurance carriers and brokers,” said Dr. Michel Léonard, CBE, Vice President, Senior Economist, Triple-I and the Triple-I’s Resilience Accelerator lead.
“There has been a widespread interest in, and demand for, best-in-class actionable, alternative disaster mitigation solutions since 2017’s Hurricane Harvey and subsequent storms caused extensive insured losses to autos, homes, businesses, and governmental properties,” said Richard Seline, Managing Partner, ResilientH2O Partners. “Society saves six dollars for every dollar spent through mitigation grants funded through federal agencies and even more progress can be made on this front through further investment in pre-disaster risk mitigation.”
Nine of the 10 costliest hurricanes in U.S. history have occurred since 2004, as defined by private-sector insured losses paid to auto, home, and business insurance policyholders and FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) payouts.
“The Cannon Tower will provide a seamless onboarding for the Resilience Innovation Hub’s activities. Houston is already home to networks which focus on issues like sustainability, green infrastructure, and smart cities,” said Remington Tonar, Chief Revenue Officer, The Cannon Startup Platform.
The Resilience Innovation Hub’s creation was announced at the second in a series of virtual Town Halls co-hosted by the Triple-I and ResilientH2O Partners. The session on “Technology, Innovation, and Investment” focused on investing in pre-disaster risk mitigation and featured presentations by:
- Rahel Abraham, Founder of ClimaGuard;
- Tasha Neilson, Founder of FloodFrame;
- Tim McTigue, Director of Business Development at Portadam;
- John Brinkman, CEO of Imbiber Beads,
- and David Rubinstein, CEO of OptiRTC.
A panel discussion followed, and it included the Cannon’s Remington Tonar; Aaron Chan, Scouting Manager at State Farm’s @Labs; and Edward Craner, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Marketing at Holt Caterpillar.