Brain capital, which encompasses the brain health and skills of a population, plays a pivotal role in achieving all of the United Nations’ (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN SDGs, which were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, are a collection of interlinked objectives intended to “end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.” Brain capital can contribute to these goals through its human-centric, systemic, and transformative nature. Specifically, by investing in brain capital technologies and research that promotes brain health, we can cultivate productive, healthy brains capable of advancing our society and achieving a sustainable, flourishing future as outlined in the UN SDGs. The paper examines how brain capital is intricately and bi-directionally linked to each of the SDGs. It outlines how investing in brain capital enables SDG progress and explain how progress on the SDGs feeds back into improved brain capital.

EMEA President Prof. Rym Ayadi, along with EMEA Advisors Harris Eyre, Pawel Swieboda and William Hynes had participated at the Conference “Brain Capital Building: Brain Deals to Meet SDGs by 2030”, which took place as part of the Science Summit of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York, on 19.09.23

Paper authors: Harris A. Eyre, MBBS, Ph.D., Jo-An Occhipinti, Ph.D., Laura Murray, Ph.D., William Hynes, D.Phil., Rym Ayadi, Ph.D., Mohamed Salama, M.D., Ph.D., Pawel Swieboda, Eoin J. Cotter, Ph.D., Michael Martino, M.S., Michael Berk, M.D., Ph.D., Upali Nanda, Ph.D., Julie Hiromoto FAIA, Elena Stotts-Lee, María E. Castelló, Ph.D., Walter D Dawson, D.Phil., Jorge Jraissati, Michelle Tempest MBBS, Mara Madrigal-Weiss, Agustin Ibanez, Ph.D., Ryan Abbott, M.D., J.D., Ph.D., Kavitha Kolappa, M.D., M.P.H., Helen Lavretsky, M.D., M.S., Dilip V. Jeste, M.D., Patrick Brennan, Ian H. Robertson, Ph.D., Eric A. Storch, Ph.D., Laura-Joy Boulos, Ph.D., Kelly O’Brien, Laura Booi, Ph.D., Francesca R. Farina, Ph.D., Mitchell S. V. Elkind, M.D., M.S., Cornelia C. Walther, Ph.D., Michael L. Platt, Ph.D., Jair C. Soares, M.D., Ph.D., Laura Jana, M.D., Sara Ronco, Erin Smith, Kirti Ranchod, MBBCh, Sonja Sudimac, MSc, Dennis Pamlin, Julio Licinio, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, Christos Symeonides, MBBS, Miguel Angel Lara Otaola, Ph.D., Dan Mannix, Katrina Maestri, Steve Carnevale, Antonella Santuccione Chadha, M.D, Gareth Presch, Thomas Bateman, DBA, Quazi Haque, M.D., FRCPsych LLM, Michael Hogan, Chee H. Ng, MBBS, M.D., Veronica Podence Falcao, M.D., Jafri Malin Abdullah, M.D., Ph.D., FASc, Ruojuan Yu, MBA, Zoltan Sarnyai, M.D., Ph.D., Rajiv Ahuja, J.D., M.S., Samantha Wibawa, Lynne Corner, and Anna Dé

The paper is available at https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/how-brain-capital-can-drive-progress-uns-sustainable-development-goals

Link to EMEA publications
Link to the report of the Brain Capital Building Conference at the 78th United Nations General Assembly