The 330-year old insurance market, where people buy cover for everything from satellites to submersibles, are stuck with tried and tested ways of doing business.

該保險金融市場已經有 330 年的歷史了，客戶們在這裡購買各式各樣的保險，不管是衛星還是潛水艇，交易模式早已經過時間的試煉。

Face-to-face negotiation is a good example.

例如面對面的交易談判。

Brokers and insurers meet in the famous underwriting room to discuss how best to cover their clients' risks.

仲介人與保險業者在著名的承保房中會面，討論如何提供客戶最完善的風險保障。

And deals are often still concluded on paper.

交易仍常以紙本方式進行。

There are also a whole host of more ceremonial traditions

除此之外還有更多儀式般的交易傳統，

from the book where ships that sink are recorded with a quill pen to the Lutine Bell, which is rung on very ceremonial occasions, and the strikingly uniformed waiters who usher visitors around the building.

例如這本以鵝毛筆寫下的沉船紀錄，再例如著名的盧廷大鐘，它從不缺席任何一場重要儀式；再看看那些衣著光鮮亮麗的侍者，在大樓周圍招呼著訪客。

By and large, it works well.

大體而言，這套系統運作得很好。

About $34bn pounds worth of insurance is bought at Lloyd's every year.

每年大約有價值 340 億英鎊的保險在勞合銀行完成交易。

Last year, it paid out $18bn pounds in claims.

去年勞合銀行付出 180 億英鎊的保險索賠。

But even Lloyd's has to move with the times.

但就算是勞合銀行也必須努力跟上時代。

So they've set up Lloyd's Lab, where 10 start-ups have 10 weeks to get to know how Lloyd's works and what it needs.

於是他們創立了勞合實驗室，邀請十間新創公司花十週的時間了解勞合的運作方式與需求。

We know with new technology we have to keep thinking about innovation.

我們知道隨著新科技層出不窮，我們也必須時時留意創新。

And the lab is a way to bring technology from outside into London and think about how we can innovate in the future.

勞合實驗室就是想把外頭的科技帶進倫敦，並去思考我們在未來如何進行創新。

The companies in the lab have plenty of ideas, whether it's using AI to help small businesses buy insurance, blockchain to pay claims more efficiently, or drones and mobile phones to help respond to natural catastrophes.

實驗室裡的公司擁有源源不絕的新點子，像是運用人工智慧協助小型企業購買保險，區塊鏈技術使保險索賠更加簡便；或者運用無人機與手機改善對自然災害的應變過程。

But getting insurance companies and start-ups together isn't easy.

然而想促進保險與新創公司的合作並非一蹴可幾。

A lot of people say they speak different languages.

許多人反應彼此的溝通模式需要磨合。

While insurers talk about claims ratios and brokerage costs, the start-ups are interested in funding rounds and product development.

保險公司在乎的是賠償比例以及仲介費用，新創公司關注的則是募資階段還有產品開發。

We have all of our jargon in the insurance industry and the technology jargon as well.

我們面對的是分別來自保險金融業與科技業的專業知識。

But we have been really pleased with the attitude of the market to this.

不過市場的反應卻十分正面。

And we're really actually seeing a kind of meeting of minds rather than a clashing of cultures.

我們經歷的不是兩邊文化的衝撞，而是雙方的意見交換與補足。

Both sides seem to think it's worth a shot, even a tiny slice of Lloyd's's annual premiums is a big prize for an entrepreneur with a good idea.

兩邊似乎都願意嘗試，勞合銀行每年的酬勞，就算只取一小部分，對一間擁有好點子的企業都是一筆優渥的獎賞。

Tradition is important to Lloyd's.

傳統價值在勞合銀行擁有舉足輕重的地位。

But there's more opportunity that they can take advantage of.

但除此之外還有更多勞合應該把握的機會。

That's true among any industry that's faced with those disruptors, if you will.

任何面對科技衝擊的產業皆然。

But I think you'll find that most of the cohorts here are not looking to disrupt it.

但我認為這群人的目的並不是想去「擾亂」 。

We're here just to make it more efficient so that the companies that we are trying to provide insurance for, risk management for, can grow at a rate and make the overall pie bigger for everybody.

我們要做的是提高運作效率，來讓我們提供保險服務與風險管理的公司能夠有所成長，改善整塊市場，讓大家都有更多利益可圖。

For the insurers, technology offers the opportunity to get an advantage, however small, over rivals.

對於保險公司來說，科技帶來更多機會與優勢。

There's plenty of competition for business in Lloyd's and prices for some types of insurance have been falling for years.

勞合現在面臨激烈的同行競爭，且某些類型的保險這幾年來價格不斷下跌。

Almost immaterial of the trading environment, people are conscious that innovation and technology is already having an impact and will have an impact on our industry.

不管是不是在金融交易環境，人們很清楚科技創新在現階段以及未來都會持續衝擊我們的產業。

And actually, regardless of whether it was a good time in the market or a bad time, we need to adapt.

話說回來，不管市場是一片看好還是景氣低迷，我們都必須隨時調整腳步。

We need to modernize.

我們需要跟上時代。

And we need to change.

我們必須做出改變。

It's a very traditional industry in a lot of ways.

在許多層面上這都是相當傳統的產業。

Is it culturally difficult to encourage people and insurance to look at new technology?

想要鼓勵員工、鼓勵這個保險業轉向新科技，就企業文化層面來說會不會很困難？

It's trying to explain to people simultaneously that there are some challenges out there that we have to respond to but also showing them the opportunities.

重點是要在進行過程中向員工解釋我們面臨的外來挑戰，但同時也要讓他們看見新機會。

Culturally, it varies across the industry.

至於整個產業的文化方面則是因人而異。

There are some people who are very receptive to it, other people who maybe need warming up to it a little bit more.

有些人欣然接收改變，也有些人需要比較長的調適時間。

The people organizing the lab have had to work hard to bring the two sides together, convincing them to change the way they do things.

這座實驗室的運作者需要付出相當的努力，讓兩邊能順利合作，並取說服兩方改變原本做事情的方法。

In some respects, it's been a challenge.

在許多方面這的確是項挑戰。

Lloyd's and the market have had to accelerate the way that they work.

勞合銀行還有這整個市場都得加速運作。

And the start-ups will sometimes slow down in order to be able to work with the incumbents.

有時候那些新創公司會放慢腳步，讓彼此間的合作更順暢。

And that's the process of these labs that actually does end up finding that medium that both parties can play it.

就是這樣的過程讓這些實驗室最終都得以來到雙方同意的共識點。

If the lab is to succeed, it will need to convince the doubters that the start-ups can offer something worthwhile.

這個計劃若要成功，就必須想辦法說服態度存疑者，讓他們看到新創公司確實有所貢獻。

People have tried to modernize Lloyd's in the past with limited success.

在過去勞合銀行的現代化一直不怎麼成功。

But with the challenges to the market growing, the people behind the lab think that this time they really need to make it work.

但如今市場競爭愈趨激烈，勞合實驗室的推動者認為，這次絕不允許失敗。