Big data is a key technology for many economic sectors. In this project, which is part of the National Research Programme 75 'Big Data' (NRP 75), focus is placed on insurance companies and the ethical discussion with respect to the use of customer data and the legal regulation of data protection. It investigates

a) which values in the insurance sector are being influenced by the new big data solutions from a customer perspective and

b) to what extent the designers of these solutions (engineers and management) are sensitive with respect to these values.

The term sensitivity refers to the ability of stakeholders to recognise whether values such as fairness, privacy and solidarity are affected in existing and future big data applications in the insurance sector.

The project aims to:

• identify ethical and legal challenges relating to big data applications in the insurance sector,
• recognise which values customers view as threatened by digital influences,
• assess to what extent designers of big data applications are sensitive to these problems,
• formulate recommendations that allow for these challenges to be managed by political decision-makers and
• establish an industry standard for handling ethical and legal big data challenges.

The project was also supported by the following individuals:

• Markus Christen, University of Zurich (project management)
• Helene Blumer, former employee of University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons

Parties involved

The project was implemented by the Swiss Institute for Entrepreneurship (SIFE) in cooperation with the Swiss Institute for Information Science (SII) on behalf of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).