Brain Science is the Foundation of the Brain Economy Transformation

Profound economic transitions are on the horizon, offering the potential to unlock greater socio-economic sustainability, productivity, and well-being. Yet, history has shown such transitions can be challenging. Brain health and brain skills hold the key to successfully navigating these imminent, skills-based shifts with greater ease. To secure the best possible future for our nations, we must prioritize and invest in brain health and brain skills and the research that supports them. By doing so, we can pave the way for a brain-positive economic transformation — one that fosters a resilient and innovative brain economy.

The vital importance of brain skills

Our brains are essential to the modern economy, which demands ever more cognitive, emotional, and social expertise. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 noted that employers will prioritize cognitive skills, requiring brain health to excel and adapt to new technologies in our lives. Further, the world must embark upon a number of core skills-based economic transitions in the coming years, including the bioeconomy, green economy, care economy, and digital transitions.

The care transition focuses on recognizing and investing in care services and care work as essential for economic growth and social well-being. The green transition involves shifting toward environmentally sustainable and fairer societies to combat climate change and environmental degradation. The digital transition aims to unlock digital growth potential and deploy innovative solutions for businesses and citizens, and to improve the accessibility and efficiency of services. The bioeconomy transition refers to the shift toward an economy based on products, services, and processes derived from biological resources, such as plants and microorganisms. These transitions are vital. However, the ease, speed, and effectiveness of these transitions requires good brain health and agile brain skills, which are both currently in peril.

Brain health in peril

Global brain health loss, measured by the workplace and health care costs of mental and neurological disorders, is equal to the Gross National Product (GNP) of Canada. The Brain Health Atlas from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a University of Washington-based think-tank, notes the cost of brain and mental health disorders at $2.2 trillion per year, or some 2 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This lost income and wealth could finance millions of 1 megawatt wind turbines, hundreds of clean energy power plants, the clean-up of plastic and other waste from the oceans or universal health care for a population as large as in the U.S. or Europe. Further, this loss is rising at approximately 5% per year, which is higher than the growth rate of the global economy. Brain disorders are, therefore, a threat to national economic security. They also impact educational attainment, upskilling, and reskilling across the lifespan.

In a recent report, some of us showed that accelerated brain age (or older brain clocks in comparison with chronological age) was linked not only to specific diseases like dementia but also to physical and social factors, including pollution, structural socioeconomic inequality, and health disparities. Thus, there is an intrinsic interplay between brain capital — a concept encompassing brain health and brain skills — socioeconomic innovations, and structural macrosocial factors shaping brain health.

Enter the brain economy

The aforementioned brain health statistics suggest our current economy is brain health poor or brain negative, depleting our brain capital. We must transform to a brain-healthy or brain-positive economy, reversing the worldwide underinvestment in brain capital needed to unlock the brain skills needed for huge economic transitions. Brain research is the bedrock for such a transformation in the coming decades.

A window of opportunity

Solving brain health challenges will require major transitions across most major sectors. Each of these is complex and will require a systems approach. Incremental change will not be sufficient and there are few silver bullets.

No single technology, policy, or actor alone can achieve these critical shifts. Rather, it will take a community of people working together across systems to employ innovative solutions and accelerate change.

We are living through a neuroscience renaissance, exemplified by advances in basic brain science i.e., brain imaging, gene editing, microsensors, brain-computer interfaces and artificial intelligence. Thus, there are increasing opportunities to better screen, diagnose, treat, and prevent these disorders.

Rapidly emerging national brain health plans should take advantage of this renaissance.

National brain health plans, such as those implemented in Switzerland and Finland, provide comprehensive frameworks for promoting brain health at the population level. These plans include initiatives for early detection and intervention of mental health and neurological impairments, public awareness campaigns, and support for research and innovation in brain health. A stronger emphasis is needed on basic research into the brain.

To fully realize brain science’s potential, it is essential to train scientists who can think across diverse disciplines. Transdisciplinary training in brain science equips researchers with the skills to collaborate effectively and address complex challenges from multiple perspectives. This approach fosters innovation and ensures that advances in brain science are translated into practical applications that benefit society.

Efficient technology transfer from universities and research institutions is required for rapid and equitable deployment of brain science solutions to people worldwide.

Unlocking brain health and brain skills through brain science

Brain research is vital for unlocking a deeper understanding of brain health and brain skills. It cannot only recover the deficits of the disordered brain, but we argue should also prioritize optimization of creativity, resilience, and adaptability.

Brain science can be deployed across many sectors given the centrality of our brains to the functioning of our communities and economics.

Educational neuroscience is a key area of innovation. By understanding how the brain develops and learns, we can deploy more effective educational strategies that enhance cognitive skills and creativity. This is particularly important in preparing individuals for the demands of heavily skill-based economies.

Climate change- and environment-related neuroscience explores the impact of environmental factors on brain health. Recent studies suggest increasing temperatures can impair mental health and weather-related disasters may accelerate brain aging. Understanding these impacts can inform policies and practices that mitigate the negative effects of climate change on brain health.

The neuroscience of business, as pioneered by the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, explores how brain science can transform business practices and decision-making. This field has the potential to revolutionize how organizations operate and innovate by optimizing marketing and brand strategy, management, entrepreneurship, finance, and leadership. Neuroscience provides objective, quantitative metrics that can reduce the uncertainty and bias inherent in surveys and self-report measures traditionally used in business. Deeper understanding of natural intelligence, embodied in the human brain, will be critical for navigating the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence in business.

Neuroscience for national security examines brain science’s role in enhancing military personnel’s emotional and cognitive capabilities and addressing the mental health and neurological challenges associated with military service. This field is critical for maintaining a resilient and effective defense force.

Showcasing Canada’s brain science public-private partnerships

Governments must take a lead role in brain science, however, given their budgetary constraints, as well as the keen interest of the private sector and philanthropies in this space, we recommend closely studying public-private-philanthropic partnerships (4Ps). 4Ps are cross-sectoral and multi stakeholder collaborations, and are well suited to addressing complex brain economy challenges. Such challenges require profound, system-level transformation, which in turn requires an understanding of the needs and constraints of a broad set of actors, the ability to bring these actors together around well-defined objectives, the willingness to take a longer-term perspective, the capacity to run a robust day-to-day operation, and an appetite for experimentation. To this end, we applaud the Ontario Brain Institute and Baycrests’s Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation, for their successes in accelerating Canadian brain science into market-ready products and services.

Conclusion

Brain science is the foundation of the brain economy transformation. We encourage careful coordination to integrate sectors and disciplines. By integrating brain health and brain skills, we can create a brain-positive economic transformation that stops and reverses the loss of brain capital. Brain health is essential for speeding and smoothing skill-based economic transitions, and brain research provides the tools and insights needed to unlock a better understanding of brain health and brain skills. The ultimate goal is to move us toward socio-economic sustainability, productivity, and well-being.