Sharjah Research Technology & Innovation Park (SRTIP) and Deep Knowledge Analytics (DKA), a DeepTech analytical agency focused on Longevity, AI, have announced a partnership aimed at mapping the Longevity Industry in the UAE.
They aim to foster knowledge of relevant sectors locally and internationally, developing comprehensive stakeholder engagement, identifying major drivers of the industry across the country, and ultimately developing robust national longevity policies. This will prepare future leaders to advance longevity as a key component of the country’s future strategic agenda.
Albeit in its infancy, the longevity industry is expected to be the largest and most sophisticated of all time. It intersects several sub sectors from BioTech and the pharmaceutical industry to FinTech and InsurTech, among many others. This collaboration is a move forward to spearheading, developing, and commercialising the longevity industry.
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National governments currently sit at a crossroads of major longevity-related challenges and opportunities, and there is an increasingly pressing need for governmental attitudes to shift from an ageing-reactive position (reactively trying to neutralise the economic burden of the growing proportion of the population that is aged 60 and older) to a longevity-proactive position (the support of methods to extend population-level healthy longevity) to efficiently develop the massive socio-economic opportunities of longevity.
This includes extending the period of workforce participation and productivity, lowering the healthcare burden of old-age care, and reaping economic growth as a result of longevity industrialisation and associated sectors, including BioTech, the pharmaceutical industry, FinTech and InsurTech, among many others.
One of the first steps in developing an effective infrastructure for longevity governance and building healthy ageing strategies will be mapping the overall industry in the UAE by creating a detailed longevity landscape analysis to profile and categorise companies, investors, R&D hubs, academic institutions, and industry professionals operating within the field. The partnership aims to enhance the knowledge about longevity and promote its adoption nationwide.
The joint effort also aims to identify the UAE’s driving forces behind the longevity industry and healthy ageing, and ultimately devise an action plan for government entities, enabling them to establish and advance their Longevity development agenda across all relevant decision-makers and industry, governmental and institutional stakeholders.
The cooperative framework of the agreement seeks to promote a culture of longevity and an open and productive discourse on the local, regional, and international levels. In order to create a conducive dialogue around the industry, the partnership will organise local and international conferences covering longevity-related topics to promote cross-border longevity-focused cooperation and collaboration for the mutual benefit of local and international strategic, economic and political allies.
The partnership will also enhance the knowledge and career-based opportunities of UAE students by creating a longevity-focused educational program within universities in the UAE. By instilling a culture of longevity learning in today’s curricula, both parties set out to equip future leaders with the necessary know-how to address ageing and advance national longevity policies that can effectively leverage the global megatrend of longevity industrialisation to create new sources of economic growth and stability for the joint benefit of citizens and national economies.
