GRAZ and VIENNA, Austria , Nov. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The next pioneering step, all in the name of data security: Merkur Versicherung is the first insurance company in Austria to use synthetic data. To this end, the Group's own start-up, the Merkur Innovation Lab, has signed a three-year partnership agreement with MOSTLY AI. The goal is to drive data-driven innovations with the help of artificial intelligence.
Just in time for its second birthday, the Merkur Innovation Lab is taking a progressive step to ensure the anonymized handling of sensitive data. Since its founding in 2020, the Innovation Lab has been working to create added value from the existing wealth of data in the form of new services and personalized customer experiences. In order to give the necessary importance to data security and the protection of personal information, Merkur Innovation Lab has signed a three-year partnership agreement with MOSTLY AI.
Two pioneers working together
With Merkur Versicherung and MOSTLY AI, two companies have joined forces that, as pioneers in their respective fields, also provide innovative solutions beyond national borders. Merkur as a holistic personal insurer, which is actively shaping the digitization of the industry, and the Viennese company MOSTLY AI as a global deep tech pioneer in the generation of AI-based, structured synthetic data and its use in the banking and insurance sectors.
AI-generated synthetic data from MOSTLY AI looks like real data and contains all the statistically relevant information of the original dataset, but without any links back to personal data points. The synthetic data sets are therefore completely anonymized, privacy safe and GDPR compliant. In the Merkur Innovation Lab, synthetic versions of customer data will be produced in the future using this technology, on which machine learning models can be trained, for example. This makes it possible to share data internally and externally in a data protection-compliant manner in order to develop better services and products for customers.
Ahead of the times
"Our daily bread is innovation. To do this, we need data sources that are connected to gain insights that no one had before. At the end of the day, we want to inspire customers with new services and increase their confidence in digitization. With this forward-thinking partnership, we are not only meeting the legal requirements for data protection, we are also taking innovation to a whole new level thanks to MOSTLY AI, and doing so for the benefit of our customers," says Daniela Pak-Graf, CO-Managing Director of Merkur Innovation Lab.
"Synthetic data helps to establish a data-driven corporate culture and drives AI-based innovation," explains Dr. Tobias Hann, CEO of MOSTLY AI. "As a Viennese start-up that’s now operating globally, we are particularly proud that Merkur Versicherung, an Austrian insurance company, is taking an active part in driving the adoption of synthetic data and laying the foundation to use artificial intelligence for the benefit of both its business, and customers."
About Merkur Group
Merkur Versicherung AG is an Austrian insurance company headquartered in Graz and Salzburg. As the second largest private health insurance company in Austria and with the experience of nearly 225 years of history, Merkur Versicherung places the miracle of the human being and its protection at the center of its entrepreneurial thinking. The Merkur Group works in Austria, Italy and Southeast Europe with a total of 1,479 employees. The Merkur Innovation Lab was founded in 2020 under the leadership of Daniela Pak-Graf and Harald Neubauer.
About MOSTLY AI
MOSTLY AI pioneered the creation of synthetic data for AI model development. Datasets generated by the MOSTLY AI platform look just as real as a company’s original customer data with just as many details, but without the original personal data points – helping companies comply with privacy protection regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, and ensuring models are fair and unbiased. The fast-growing company currently works with multiple Fortune 100 insurers and banks in Europe and North America, and has the deepest expertise in helping companies get business value out of synthetic data. Learn more at mostly.ai.
Media contacts
Merkur Group
Jürgen Pock
Spokesman| Head of Communications
Conrad-von-Hötzendorf Straße 84
Merkur Campus | 8010 Graz
Mobil: +43 664 4500936
E-Mail: juergen.pock@merkur.at
MOSTLY AI
Sabine Klisch, VP Global Marketing
+43 664 824 64 17
sabine.klisch@mostly.ai
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7280213e-d17f-4239-b4c5-4813d05abda8
