Brain Capital, Natural Capital & Collective Stewardship: Advancing the Brain Economy for a Well-Being Future
TPC House | Monday, Jan 19 | 1:30 - 3:30 pm 

The world is entering a period of profound transition — marked by technological acceleration, ecological instability, demographic change, and a deep erosion of meaning and social cohesion. In this context, the Brain Economy emerges not as a sector or speciality, but as a unifying framework for human flourishing and systemic resilience. 

This session advances a simple but powerful proposition: every major transition we face — from climate adaptation to energy transformation, from digitalisation to social renewal — is ultimately a brain transition. A society’s capacity to learn, adapt, cooperate, care, and innovate depends on the health, skills, and coherence of its people. When cognitive health, emotional resilience, and inner grounding weaken, systems fragment. When they are strengthened, societies regenerate. Here, brain health is reframed as foundational infrastructure — as critical to long-term prosperity as clean energy systems, education pathways, or capital markets. Brain skills become the currency of a disrupted century: lifelong learning, ethical discernment, emotional intelligence, and the capacity to navigate complexity in an AI-shaped world. Spiritual health — meaning, identity, and belonging — is recognised not as an abstract ideal, but as a stabilising force that underpins trust, cooperation, and social performance during periods of change. At the systems level, the Brain Economy reveals a deeper interdependence: air quality, climate stability, nature regeneration, and social trust are inseparable from cognitive capacity and societal productivity. A thriving mind requires a thriving biosphere; a regenerative economy requires regenerative humans.