ICMIF member Unimutual (Australia) has launched Unipedia, a new open source resource portal for its members. Unimutal’s aim is to build “…the Wikipedia of higher education, university, and research risk management tools”, helping its members to grow stronger and adapt to changing circumstances.

Unimutual’s member community has always been a space for collaboration and learning from shared experiences. Unipedia will make it easier for members to share resources and knowledge with each other, helping them benefit from the industry-wide experiences of its membership pool.

The open source model is a decentralised development model that is powered by open collaboration, community sharing and improvement to create blueprints faster and better than any individual effort, and in a more financially viable way. Just like with the mutual, it is not developers but users who are the most important part of an open source project – nothing is more valuable for Unimutual’s members than constant, direct experience which provides insights that lead to further improvements and modifications.

Owned and controlled by members for the sole benefit and interest of the membership, Unimutual exists to deliver strategic and economic value to the higher education sector by supporting teaching and research through competitive pricing and unrivalled breadth of cover for essential property and liability protection. Unlike commercial insurance companies, its only goal is to provide value to its members, not the pursuit of profit.

In this area, Unimutual members have a shared goal – both because of the shared risk and insurance and reinsurance profile they share as part of the mutual, and because of the financial and operational challenges posed by the current and future environment.