Developing an Asian Brain Economy Strategy: Building Brain Capital, Economic Resilience, and Human Flourishing in the Age of AI
September 17, 2026
Webinar | Hosted by the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association & the Global Brain Economy Initiative
Asia is poised to become one of the defining regions in the global transition toward a brain economy, a model of economic development centered on brain health, cognitive resilience, and human flourishing in the age of AI. Held within the momentum of the World Economic Forum’s Brain Economy Action Forum, this webinar explored how Asian nations and institutions, facing both extraordinary opportunities and urgent vulnerabilities, can collaboratively develop a regional brain economy strategy. The session introduced the Asian Brain Economy Index and national brain health strategies across Malaysia, India, and Japan. Offering a perspective from Japan’s private sector workforce, the presentation made the case that in the world’s most aged major economy, every worker’s brain capital is a national economic asset, and identified three levers that move the private sector: policy signals that make brain health visible, credible measurement inside organizations through tools like the Mental Health at Work Index, and coalitions that give leaders a peer community. It closed with three suggestions for a regional strategy: putting the private sector workforce at its center, investing early in shared measurement, and building people systems alongside policy systems, drawing on the Coalition’s work with Japanese corporations in the United States and Japan.
Speakers: Haruka Kokaze, Chief of Staff & Senior Lead, Japan Mental Health Initiatives, One Mind
Read the recap on the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association’s website