Brain Capital Breakfast with Harris Eyre
Personal invitation
We are seizing the opportunity of Harris Eyre's visit to Paris to gather an intimate group for a "Brain Capital Breakfast". Harris originated the concept of "brain capital" which got integrated at the OECD, marking a significant milestone in integrating neuroscience into economics and policy.
Dr. Harris A. Eyre is a distinguished figure in the realm of brain health and economics. As a co-leader of the OECD-PRODEO Institute Neuroscience-inspired Policy Initiative, his work has been instrumental in bringing the importance of brain health and neuroscience to the forefront of economic and social policy. With his roles at Rice University’s Baker Institute and the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, he continues to influence and shape the dialogue around brain capital.
At Newfund, we are deeply invested in these topics and strongly believe in the potential of startups to deliver innovative solutions. You can find our latest study on 'Brain and Nutrition' (in French and English), offering insights into the intersection of neuroscience and wellness.
Join us for an enlightening discussion on brain capital and its impact on innovation and policy, led by a true pioneer in the field.
Post-event recap
The discussion we had with the group yesterday is a great encouragement to move further.
Discussion summary:
It was a vivid and insightful discussion. There were first questions about the choice of the terms "Brain Capital" and the connotations that "capital" can have. Indeed, we can all have different definitions and various associations of values on a personal level as well as on the terms "brain" and "capital". There were also remarks on the perimeter of "brain", the link with the body, new technologies, etc. Altogether, the concept was deemed rich and worthy of consideration.
There was also a need to focus on neurodevelopment, especially in the younger age groups. Harris then mentioned the project that the Lab’FondaMental is developing with the region Ile de France, to set up an observatory for mental health of the 15-25 years old.
One of the key elements that emerged in terms of expectations is the need to measure the impact on brain capital. Including in the short term (1 year), especially for public policies. Rym Ayadi is developing such metrics for countries with the Brain Capital Dashboard Working Group.
The difficulty of financing neuro and psychiatric projects and the challenges of finding investment funds to support this type of projects, particularly in the early stages, was also mentioned several times.
In the more informal exchanges at the end of the event, several participants asked what the next steps were and how they could contribute.
Next steps:
We propose to bring the informal discussion group to life as a 'brain capital alliance', which could focus in particular on advancing measurement tools in the following areas:
Brain capital measurement: at the corporate and company level. Rym Ayadi has started to work on a global country-level dashboard, it would be interesting to have the inputs of the participants; a scoring of the brain capital of major listed corporations based on public data is worth reflecting on;
Investment: follow-up of start-ups funding in terms of $/€ invested, update of the mapping first established by Newfund in September 2021; Research bonds such as the ‘Texas Brain Health Initiative’; ETFs;
Public policy innovation, i.e. how we can push towards new public policies inspired by brain capital and neuroscience. A mapping of brain capital themes that evolve and change according to the progress made would be helpful. Starting with depression on which the Foundation FondaMental could establish a first draft.
Readings:
Brain Capital, everything that is worthwhile - Remarks for the Brookings Institution Board of Trustees (Harris Eyre)
A Brain Capital Grand Strategy - an article from Molecular Psychiatry
Brain Capital, the next technological revolution: a study of start-ups in the sector by Newfund (in FR)