Artificial intelligence, cyber resilience, climate analytics, and emerging liability risks are among the most consequential themes for reinsurers, according to Munich Re and ERGO’s newly released Tech Trend Radar 2026, which outlines the technologies they believe will most materially reshape insurance and reinsurance markets over the coming years.
The report argues that many previously “emerging” technologies have now moved into practical deployment, with reinsurers needing to focus less on experimentation and more on implementation, governance, and underwriting adaptation.
Below are some of the most relevant takeaways for the global reinsurance market.
Munich Re said artificial intelligence has shifted from early-stage experimentation into practical insurance applications, particularly in underwriting, claims, and software development. The report highlights AI agents, AI-augmented software engineering, and AI governance among the most mature and impactful technology trends for insurers.
The reinsurer noted that AI-driven underwriting and claims technologies are already delivering measurable operational gains. In life and health, Munich Re said machine learning underwriting tools have generated straight-through-processing uplifts of 30% to 35% in some deployments.
However, the firm cautioned that broader AI adoption will require stronger governance frameworks as regulation evolves and autonomous systems become more embedded in insurance operations.
On cyber, Munich Re said digital immune systems and other resilience technologies could reduce future claims severity and frequency by improving organizations’ ability to prevent and respond to attacks. The report suggests mature cyber defense infrastructure may lead to fewer severe cyber incidents over time.
At the same time, the reinsurer warned that AI is also increasing threat sophistication, particularly through deepfakes, fraud, and automated attack vectors. Deepfake-enabled impersonation and disinformation were highlighted as growing underwriting concerns.
Munich Re added that nearly nine in 10 C-suite respondents in its latest cyber survey said their companies are not adequately protected against cyber threats.
Climate risk and resilience remain a core long-term theme, with Munich Re emphasizing the need for insurers and reinsurers to move from reactive risk transfer toward more anticipatory risk modeling and prevention strategies.
The report highlights growing use of near-real-time location intelligence, event mapping, and climate analytics to improve underwriting precision, portfolio steering, and catastrophe response. Reinsurers are increasingly using these tools to assess exposure accumulation and validate pricing assumptions.
Munich Re also flagged several broader technological shifts altering insured risk characteristics and creating new underwriting challenges.
In motor, the reinsurer said the expansion of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers is changing claims economics, with lower vehicle purchase prices not necessarily translating into lower claims costs due to repair complexity and battery/sensor integration.
In casualty and specialty, humanoid robots and autonomous mobility were identified as emerging areas likely to reshape liability frameworks and workplace risk assumptions.
The report also points to the rapid scaling of renewable energy and grid infrastructure as a source of both premium opportunity and technical underwriting complexity.
While not yet in broad deployment, Munich Re said quantum computing and synthetic data are technologies reinsurers should monitor closely.
Quantum computing could eventually enable more sophisticated catastrophe modeling, portfolio optimization, and pricing analytics, though Munich Re said first meaningful insurance applications are not expected until around 2030.
Synthetic data, meanwhile, may help insurers and reinsurers improve model training where historical or privacy-sensitive data sets are limited, particularly for emerging and low-frequency risks.
The overarching message of the report is that technology is no longer simply improving insurance operations - it is actively reshaping the underlying risk landscape.
For reinsurers, that means underwriting models, exposure management frameworks, and product structures will need to evolve in parallel as technological change alters both how risk is assessed and what risks are being transferred.
