Preven­tion and resilience

Why does Mobi­liar focus so heavily on resilience?

As an insu­rance company, our busi­ness model is based on the prin­ci­ple of soli­da­rity. As a coope­ra­tive, we care about the common good. Even our foun­ding statu­tes, which date all the way back to 1826, stipu­late that the work we do at Mobi­liar is based on recipro­city. In other words, resi­li­ence has been one of our core values since the busi­ness was first foun­ded almost 200 years ago. Preven­tion and resi­li­ence are the two main pillars under­pin­ning our sustaina­bi­lity stra­tegy. Preven­tion is all about protec­tion and preser­va­tion, while resi­li­ence is a ques­tion of ensu­ring our society is fit for the future. We’re commit­ted to taking action to that effect. 

What does social sustaina­bi­lity mean to you?

We can divide social sustaina­bi­lity into diffe­rent levels. First of all, you have the role of the indi­vi­dual in society. We need to find ways of laying future-proof foun­da­ti­ons so we can keep the dialo­gue going and help future gene­ra­ti­ons realise their own poten­tial. Next up, there’s the Swiss economy. Small and medium-sized enter­pri­ses are the back­bone, employ­ing over 90 per cent of the popu­la­tion and focu­sing on inno­va­tions that will ensure their future survi­val. And then you have nature and the envi­ron­ment. We’re commit­ted to support­ing projects that aim to create an adap­ta­ble living space.

How do you inte­grate resi­li­ence into your social acti­vi­ties at Mobiliar?

Like I said, resi­li­ence is at the heart of our ambi­ti­ons. And so we have a range of initia­ti­ves on these three levels I mentio­ned earlier. We have our own initia­ti­ves, we support projects and we work with part­ners who are working towards the same goals as us. 

For exam­ple, we support sponge city initia­ti­ves in urban cons­truc­tion as a way of miti­ga­ting the effects of climate change. This invol­ves unse­al­ing soil and crea­ting green spaces. The idea is that water can seep through rather than run off the surface caus­ing damage. And it can evapo­rate again, acting like a natu­ral air-condi­tio­ning system that cools down the envi­ron­ment and impro­ves the quality of life in the public sphere. So we’re talking about climate measu­res and social measures.

The aim of our rese­arch part­ner­ships is to gain insights that we can put into prac­tice through our projects for the common good. Through our social efforts, we play an active role in streng­thening the resi­li­ence of society by helping SMEs and NPOs to adapt so they are ready to face the future. 

In our Mobi­liar Forum, we offer inno­va­tion work­shops for SMEs and NPOs. This gives them the chance to address speci­fic ques­ti­ons about their future with profes­sio­nal guidance and using a process based on the design thin­king metho­do­logy. They also learn about inno­va­tion techniques. 

The Atelier du Futur is another important project. It’s a summer camp for young people aged between 13 and 15 with a heavy focus on digi­ta­li­sa­tion, the envi­ron­ment, consump­tion, art and culture. We want those young people to realise that they have a voice and that they can use that voice to improve their own future. 

How can an insu­rance company help make society more resilient?

The core busi­ness of an insu­rance company is to provide insu­rance against risks. But we can’t insure against a lack of inno­va­tion or an inabi­lity to adapt. That’s why we believe in looking at the bigger picture when it comes to resi­li­ence. We want to play an important role in our society being able to look ahead to the future with optimism.

What chal­lenges is Mobi­liar facing in its current efforts?

We’re living through multi­ple crises right now. The world has become so complex for each and every one of us that we can some­ti­mes lose track and feel disori­en­ted. The worst thing we can do is give up. We choose to focus less on speci­fic issues and more on oppor­tu­ni­ties. That means that we tend to need more than one simple answer. We’re looking for the right tools that can be applied. For exam­ple, we try to show young people what they’re capa­ble of through crea­tive endea­vours and we aim to inspire SMEs to adopt inno­va­tion proces­ses using the design thin­king methodology.

How does Mobi­liar measure the social impact of its initia­ti­ves, espe­ci­ally in terms of streng­thening resi­li­ence in rela­tion to the envi­ron­ment, the economy and society?

That’s an important ques­tion. As it stands, we have speci­fic KPIs for our initia­ti­ves and we conduct surveys regu­larly. But we care more about the impact on our ambi­tion, the resi­li­ence of society. We want to create an inte­gra­ted impact model for that purpose. Before we can do that, we need an under­stan­ding of ways of measu­ring the resi­li­ence of society – the rele­vant para­me­ters we need to be iden­ti­fy­ing. We’re working with part­ners like the Risk Dialo­gue Foun­da­tion to achieve this.

How does Mobi­liar use art and culture to improve aware­ness of and acces­si­bi­lity to resi­li­ence and commu­nity spirit without them coming across as a means to an end?

Encou­ra­ging art is the top prio­rity. Artists are indi­ca­tors of the current trends, shifts and discourse in society. And that makes them essen­tial in an open, fully func­tio­ning society. They process these socie­tal issues, acting as intellec­tual messen­gers while opening up access on so many levels. Art and culture are also a plat­form for networ­king and trans­fer between disci­pli­nes, such as busi­ness, science and society. 

We actively encou­rage the crea­tive process with our coll­ec­tion and the Prix Mobi­lière. We open up dialo­gue on socie­tal issues through our exhi­bi­ti­ons at our offices in Bern and Nyon. We keep the formats varied and work with our part­ners from the fields of rese­arch and culture to main­tain links with diffe­rent topics. We do our best to make sure ever­yone can enjoy art – and not just art afici­o­na­dos – by making the dialo­gue surroun­ding it as acces­si­ble as possible. 

Does Mobi­liar work alone or with part­ners when it comes to social initiatives? 

Part­ner­ships are key to our initia­ti­ves. There’s only so much impact we can have as Mobi­liar alone. But we can amplify that impact by sharing skills and expe­ri­en­ces and working on projects with others. We see oursel­ves as faci­li­ta­tors and networ­kers in this context. We believe stron­gly in co-crea­tion because it deli­vers better results and is based on a stron­ger foun­da­tion. And all of that means that our endea­vours are more credible.