Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s (Department) Commissioner, Jessica Altman, announced a new program encouraging insurtechs and carriers to bring innovative solutions and products to the insurance market. Keystone Smart Launch (Smart Launch) promises to reduce barriers and accelerate regulatory review in order to bring cutting-edge products and services to consumers in Pennsylvania and nationwide.

“The Smart Launch program is open to both regulated and non-regulated entities in the commonwealth looking to introduce novel insurance products and services in Pennsylvania,” Altman said. “Bringing a new product to the market can be a frustrating process, but Smart Launch will make it easier to navigate the regulatory considerations and challenges that can bar progress and innovation. Through Smart Launch and the open communication channels it will create, we believe we can enable an easier, more efficient process to bring new and better options to the market, while still ensuring the same level of robust consumer protection this Department has always provided.”  The Department has designated an insurtech team drawn from its ranks to vet and approve new products and services.  Smart Launch encourages submissions of insurance products and services that use newly developed designs or technologies, including ones that may depart from the traditional regulatory framework.

Smart Launch is a welcomed invitation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is home to UPenn’s Wharton Business School and Pennovation, Carnegie Mellon’s Emerging Technology Center, and Drexel University’s Law and Technology Center, not mention countless fintech and insurtech startups in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Smart Launch’s success will be measured by the new the products it is able to bring to market in the coming months and years.