HydroRisk

HydroRisk is a platform built for insurance underwriting teams that replaces outdated flood risk models with continuously updated satellite intelligence. Today, most insurers still rely on static elevation maps and historical claims data that can be 5–10 years old. With climate change and rapid urban development, those models are increasingly inaccurate—leading to systematic underpricing (and losses) or overpricing (and lost customers). Events like the 2021 Western European floods, which caused €12B in unexpected losses, highlight how big this gap is.

Our approach is simple: for any property, we estimate how often it will flood and how severe the damage will be, and from that calculate the correct premium. To do this, we combine multiple EU space data sources from the Copernicus ecosystem. Sentinel-1 radar lets us detect actual past flooding over the last decade, even through clouds. Sentinel-2 helps us track land use and impermeable surfaces, which directly affect runoff. The Copernicus Digital Elevation Model allows us to model terrain and water flow, while climate data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service adds a forward-looking adjustment. We also integrate EFAS signals for broader flood risk context. The value comes from combining these layers into one clear, property-level risk score that is continuously updated, rather than static.

This directly addresses the challenge of improving water monitoring and risk forecasting using space data. By turning satellite observations into actionable underwriting insights, HydroRisk helps insurers price flood risk more accurately and anticipate future exposure. In practice, even a small improvement in loss ratio has a massive financial impact, so the tool pays for itself quickly. At the same time, more accurate pricing indirectly supports better water management by encouraging risk-aware decisions and investment in mitigation.

Mira — Product & Strategy, Business Logic: Focused on turning satellite data into a usable product for insurance underwriting.

Alex — Data & Engineering: Build the data pipeline and integrated Copernicus datasets into the model.

Teo — Risk Model / Backend: Developed the flood risk model and premium calculation logic.

Rares — Frontend / UX: Designed the interface and ensured the output is clear for underwriters.