Ep02: Brain Health Matters: Olivier Schwab Shares World Economic Forum’s Vision and Initiatives

[00:00:04] Dan Kendall: Welcome to the Brain Health News Podcast, part of Health UNMUTED. This podcast was created by Mission Based Media in association with the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative. This episode was recorded live at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland in January, 2024. George Vradenburg the founding chairman of the Davos Alzheimer's collaborative sits down with Olivier Schwab, the managing director of the World Economic Forum. 

They discussed the role of digital innovation, the impact of AI on society and health and the importance of rebuilding trust. They also delve into the critical need for global collaboration in addressing chronic diseases of aging, particularly Alzheimer's, and the role of the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative in shaping the future of brain health. Tune in for an insightful conversation on the pressing issues at the forefront of global health policy and innovation.

[00:00:56] George Vradenburg: My name is George Vradenburg. I'm the founding chairman of the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative. We're here in Davos in 2024, and I have great pleasure in introducing to all of you, Olivier Schwab, who is a managing director of the World Economic Forum. So it gives us great pleasure to be at your home, and at your place and at this great conference, Olivier, thank you for joining us.

[00:01:20] Olivier Schwab: Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here, George. 

[00:01:22] George Vradenburg: Just describe your role at the World Economic Forum and what's your job? 

[00:01:28] Olivier Schwab: I'm responsible for digital and innovation. 

[00:01:31] George Vradenburg: That's everything, isn't it? 

[00:01:33] Olivier Schwab: That's a lot of things. Yeah. Digital and innovation, as well as responsible for our youth communities.

So young global leaders and young shapers, which are two programs we launched, about 12 years ago and 20 years ago, respectively. 

[00:01:47] George Vradenburg: Digital innovation is all over this promenade here at Davos. AI is a big thing. So is that part of your portfolio, AI, digital innovation? 

[00:01:57] Olivier Schwab: Absolutely. AI is one of the big themes this year at the annual meeting. We're really at the beginning of understanding what this technology can do, and also, understanding what the applications are going to be and their impact for businesses, for society, and in the space of health in particular, I think there's some very promising opportunities which we'll be looking forward to following in the future.

[00:02:26] George Vradenburg: There's also a fair amount of conversation about the potential risks of AI. How does one moderate the potential benefits of AI and yet try to mitigate to the extent possible the risks? 

[00:02:38] Olivier Schwab: Absolutely. So we have a consortium that we've built at the World Economic Forum, and we look at exactly that. We look at three things.

One, how do we understand the technology and develop in a way, which is safe and where we can, reap the rewards and mitigate potential downsides and potential risks. Number two, what ought policy makers to think about as they think through potential regulation of some of these technologies.

How do we need to approach this? And then number three for industry, what are some of the best practices and what can we learn from them? 

[00:03:13] George Vradenburg: In the United States and I guess in many countries of the world this year, there are going to be elections and I think there's good fear that, in fact, AI can be used for misinformation.

This is a big challenge because this is not a technology that's bounded by geographic boundaries or by any potential racial or ethnic or political group. So I'm curious as to how you're going to look at this during 2024 with all the elections that are occurring and ascertain whether or not AI is being misused or appropriately used during the course of all of the elections of the current. 

[00:03:48] Olivier Schwab: Well, I think all new technology bring, promises and risks of misuse, obviously. I think this is no different. Now, of course, it's a very powerful technology as we've seen, akin to magic, some would say.

And again, we're only understanding really, we're at the beginning of understanding its potential, but I think, we need to look at it and, as you say, understand the risks and downsides, but we also then need to move on and continue the development and look at the good sides. 

[00:04:14] George Vradenburg: So this year, the theme of this conference is rebuilding trust, through dialogue, through conversation.

Talk about that theme and talk about how that theme plays out in particular context. 

[00:04:26] Olivier Schwab: Look, we have, some short term crises in the world with horrific suffering going on in parts of the world at the moment. And so, we're hoping that by bringing together some of the key actors of different regions in conflict, that we can offer our platform as a place for dialogue. 

So that's on the short term crisis issues. And then we have long term systemic challenges. We have a climate crisis. As we know, we need to transition our energy systems to systems that are more sustainable, more affordable, and the same goes for health. And we have some work that we're doing in that space.

How do we build resilient healthcare systems for the future, and that includes, of course, brain health, which is why we're very proud to have launched in 2020 or 2021 the Davos Alzheimer Collaborative, which was incubated here in Davos. 

[00:05:20] George Vradenburg: It was, in 2020 was the first conversation and as you say it was incubated during that year with experts from around the world to think through what could be done at a global scale, because the world economic forum said that Alzheimer's was now a global health policy issue comparable to infectious disease, and that we needed a global mechanism to do this.

So we did launch at the agenda in 2021 because, in fact, we had a little thing called COVID that interrupted the ability to be here in spades. So, thank you for being sort of our incubator, our parent, our sponsor. I'm curious as to what you think we can and should be doing more in brain health or in health more generally.

[00:06:04] Olivier Schwab: Thank you, George, for having championed this initiative and having really assembled a world of preeminent experts on the topic. I think it's extremely important that, initiatives such as the DAC, can really develop and thrive. And if you look at the situation we have in the world at a macro level, we have, on the one hand aging population in almost every continent,

and at the same time we have a decline in population. So that means that, overall people will get older. And we will need, people as they age to be able to continue to contribute to society. And so brain health is absolutely a top priority, I think, if we want sustainable and resilient health systems in the future.

[00:06:51] George Vradenburg: I must congratulate to leadership of the World Economic Forum for seeing past what everyone is looking at, which is the next pandemic, which is critical to understand and prepare for. And at the same time, think chronic diseases of aging, like Alzheimer's, are creating greater cost pressures around the world and affecting many more people, and we haven't dealt with chronic diseases of aging, particularly Alzheimer's, at all at the global level. Notwithstanding a lot of G20 and G7 commitments to that regard

just hasn't happened. So thank you for the leadership of the World Economic Forum and seeing that future that has to be challenged and taken on through collaborative efforts. So I thank you for that. 

[00:07:32] Olivier Schwab: Thank you.

[00:07:33] Dan Kendall: Thanks for tuning in to the Brain Health News Podcast. Be sure to visit healthunmuted.com for more information about brain health, and also visit www.davosalzheimerscollaborative.org for more information about their work, to promote brain health and end Alzheimer's globally.