Global Brain Economy Initiative and UCL Institute for Global Prosperity to Form Partnership to Advance The Global Brain Economy
New York, September 21, 2026 — The Global Brain Economy Initiative (GBEI) and the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) today announced that they are entering into a new partnership that will focus on translating brain capital research into policies that build societal prosperity worldwide.
The brain economy—the full economic value of healthy, skilled minds—represents up to $6.2 trillion in unrealized global GDP. As artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace and populations age worldwide, brain capital is under growing strain, yet it remains largely absent from the frameworks that guide national policy. Investing in brain health and skills can extend healthy lifespans, strengthen place-based economies, and boost workforce performance. GBEI and IGP will work together to unlock that potential, aligning brain capital research with IGP's mission to redesign prosperity for the 21st century.
Through the partnership, GBEI and IGP will pursue three areas of joint work:
Align research to achieve shared policy outcomes: Launch a joint working group under The New Alignment to share brain capital research, data, and insights across both local and global scales.
Convene policy leaders: Engage governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society through IGP’s New Alignment Hub to advance brain capital on the global policy agenda.
Advance new economic thinking: Collaborate on place-based brain capital, ecological economics, and human flourishing in the age of AI as part of IGP’s work reimagining prosperity for the 21st century.
The partnership will be housed within IGP's new ProBrain initiative, part of its wider ten-year strategy on harnessing data and AI for social purpose. The joint work will also feed into IGP’s recently founded The New Alignment Hub, a global platform where governments, academia, business, and civil society are working together to help turn advanced economic thinking into practical policy through the next G20 forum.
In addition, the partnership will run alongside GBEI’s Nature Medicine Commission on Brain Health for Economic Resilience, a two-year global effort to build the evidence base and tools needed to make brain capital a recognized driver of economic resilience; and the World Economic Forum-McKinsey Health Institute Brain Economy Action Forum, with GBEI and IGP beginning regular collaboration.
“Brain capital is one of the most important assets we have, and partnering with an institution rethinking prosperity itself is exactly the kind of collaboration needed to translate that science into action”
Harris Eyre, GBEI Executive Director
“This partnership brings together a shared commitment to understanding how we can build an economy that supports healthier minds, stronger communities, and greater human flourishing. By combining the Institute for Global Prosperity’s research on inclusive prosperity and social change with the Global Brain Economy Initiative’s focus on the emerging brain economy, we have an opportunity to advance rigorous research and translate evidence into practical policy.”
Prof Dame Henrietta Moore, IGP Founder and Director, Co-President of The New Alignment
About the Global Brain Economy Initiative
The Global Brain Economy Initiative (GBEI) is an organizing force to build the world’s brain capital. It connects and champions the brain economy movement – the institutions and leaders who see healthy, skilled human minds as the most important resource of the 21st century. Together with experts and collaborators, GBEI builds the science, standards, and coalitions needed to make brain capital a global economic priority.
About UCL Institute for Global Prosperity
The Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP), at University College London (UCL), is redesigning prosperity for the 21st century, changing the way we conceive and run our economies, and reworking our relationship with the planet. IGP’s vision is to build a prosperous, sustainable global future, underpinned by the principles of fairness and justice, and allied to a realistic, long-term vision of humanity’s place.
CONTACT: info@globalbraineconomy.com | newalignmenthub@gmail.com