The Mutual Insurance Conference (MIC), organised by the Mutual Research Network, is an annual event bringing together leaders of the insurance industry and academic scholars to discuss current issues related to mutual and cooperative insurance industry.
To celebrate the ICMIF centenary, this year’s MIC will take place on Monday 24 October in Rome, Italy, the day before the start of the ICMIF Centenary Conference. Registration for this event is open (more information is available here) and ICMIF members are welcome to register to attend.
“Building on its unique concept, the MIC brings together insurance leaders, scientific thought leaders and students to discuss issues related to mutual/cooperative insurance industry. In this, the MIC answers to the great demand of strengthening and facilitating the interaction, debate and collaboration between science and practice” says the Founders of the Mutual Research Network, Jakša Krišto of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Zagreb, and Antti Talonen of the University of Helsinki.
This year’s event will take place in an old Roman church at the campus of the Luiss University. “The event always take place on the campus of a local university partner. This creates the MIC’s unique academic and relaxed atmosphere and provides the best possible environment to mix debates from academic and practical starting points” adds Jakša and Antti.
The theme of this year’s MIC is Leading with purpose in times of crises. The first session of the event will focus on envisioning the meanings of mutuality in a post-COVID world. This is specifically important when the awareness of health risk has increased significantly throughout societies. In addition, individuals and businesses have recognised how powerfully health risks can trigger other risks, as business interruptions or errors in the value chains, to actualise.
In the second session, the agenda will focus on the role of locally owned insurers and financial companies in today’s international economy. Implications of the global pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine have caused significant upheaval that may change the global economy and its dynamic in fundamental ways. Thus, it is only rational to ask: are we going to witness an increased emphasis of local economies and actors? What is the role of local-level cooperation between insurers and banks? Is there a call for a new European mutuality defined by the special characteristics of the local third sector?
The final session of the day will take a true glance into the future by revealing the official student survey of the MIC conference. The survey was conducted by students for the students and the aim is to describe how millennials see the mutual and cooperative sector. This research will provide important tools for the industry representatives in building their organisations for the long term.
For the first time in its history, the MIC has opened a call for scientific conference papers. From these papers, two to three will be chosen to be presented in the MIC conference. In the presentation, scholars should give emphasis to presenting the most interesting results with a specific focus on the managerial and practical takeaways. Last month, ICMIF announced that it had established a new bursary award of EUR 10,000 for the most promising young scholar (under 35 years of age) in the field of mutual and cooperative insurance.
“We want to congratulate the ICMIF community for its 100 years journey and warmheartedly invite you to join the 3rd MIC Conference in Rome” says Jakša and Antti. “We believe that lively discussions and debates mixing practical and scientific views have the potential to create something truly exciting, refreshing, and innovative.”
More information on on the Mutual Research Network can be found at mutualsnetwork.com and ICMIF can register to attend the event via this link.
