Our PhD candidate Wasu reflects on his participation in the Healthy Longevity Incubator 2023 in Singapore:

At the beginning of July, I had the chance to participate in the Healthy Longevity Talent Incubator 2023 in Singapore. With the ambitious goal of delaying ageing, compressing comorbidity and maintaining high functionality in everyday life, we need talents to come together and pioneer the future. So this event was a great enrichment for me and my research.

In total 26 world-class longevity experts supported 40 young researchers from 21 countries to build interdisciplinary research collaborations. After the kickoff of the first 10-day intensive course in Singapore, it quickly became clear to me that we need to accelerate the development of researchers, so the study of the landscape is extremely important. We need to know and understand: who is doing what to whom, where and why.

Since I had many “aha”-experiences, I would like to share with you some insights into this new initiative.

1. It is critical to understand the landscape to change it: Foreseeable changes are occurring in the market due to rapid development in the research field.
2. There is a lack of implementation strategy, although there is enough knowledge of intervention.
3. The lack of researchers is when positively seen, a great potential for the companies and pioneers in this field.

With my projects at the CDHI, I try to contribute to closing this gap.

Here you will find the GENKI project, where we are studying the landscape and exploring the emerging business models of the future for longevity. I look forward to hearing from you and collaborating with you.

My thanks to the Centre for Healthy Longevity, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and the organizing team, especially Prof. Andrea B. Maier, Prof. J.J. (Hans) Meij, and Dr. Hataitip Tasena, PhD.

Special thanks to my dear supervisors who always support me: Prof. Elgar Fleisch and Prof. Tobias Kowatsch, Centre for Digital Health Interventions, CSS Health Lab, D-MTEC ETH Zurich, Institute of Technology Management, University of St.Gallen (ITEM-HSG), School of Medicine – University of St.Gallen (HSG), Institute for Implementation Science in Health Care (IfIS).