A mutual interest in microinsurance has led to a formal agreement between the Munich Re Foundation and Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business to cooperate in the development of a sustainable insurance market for the poor worldwide.

Georgia State announced the agreement March 28.

Robinson’s Center of the Economic Analysis of Risk has been in the forefront of an international research effort to accelerate the formation of this market and has been active in the annual International Microinsurance Conference launched in 2005 by the Munich Re Foundation and the Microinsurance Network .

Richard Phillips, chair of Robinson’s Department of Risk Management and Insurance, organized an academic track of programming for the conference held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2009.

Since its founding the conference has brought together representatives of non-government and development-aid organizations and the insurance industry who have discussed the challenges of extending insurance to low income households.

Past conferences were held in Munich; Cape Town, South Africa; Mumbai, India; Cartagena, Colombia and Manila, Philippines. This year’s conference is to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 8-10.

The Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk opened last year and convened a workshop for microinsurance experts from the foundation, the University of Oxford, the World Bank and the International Labour Organization to establish an agenda for tackling future needs.

“Developing a sustainable market for insurance for the poor will be a complex, multiyear undertaking,” Glenn W. Harrison, the center’s director, said in a news release. “By partnering with the Munich Re Foundation we hope to accelerate the process.”

“We look forward to continuing our work with the Munich Re Foundation to advance microinsurance from an idea in its infancy to a widely used instrument,” said Dr. Phillips.

The Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk promotes economic research on the measurement and management of risks faced by individuals, households, institutions and societies.

The Munich Re Foundation seeks to provide answers to overarching questions from a variety of perspectives in order to find sustainable solutions in the area of risk prevention.

For more information, call Jenifer Shockley at (404) 413-7078.