The Brain Economy: Responding to the Polycrisis, Seizing the Polytunity - EMEA
ByHarris Eyre,Rym Ayadi,andWilliam HynesFor much of the past decade, our collective conversation has been shaped by one powerful idea:polycrisis. Climate disruption. Artificial intelligence. Mental ill-health. . . .
ByHarris Eyre,Rym Ayadi,andWilliam HynesFor much of the past decade, our collective conversation has been shaped by one powerful idea:polycrisis. Climate disruption. Artificial intelligence. Mental ill-health. Population aging. Biodiversity loss. Geopolitical instability. Declining trust. Each challenge is significant on its own. Together, they interact in ways that amplify one another. The concept of polycrisis has provided an essential diagnostic lens for understanding our era. It has also influenced much of the work explored inConvergence Mental Health, where we argued that society’s most pressing challenges increasingly transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and require convergence across health, economics, technology, policy, business, and the social sciences. More recently, in “The Global Amygdala Is on Fire,” we proposed a complementary neuroscience metaphor. The amygdala is our brain’s threat detection system. It rapidly identifies danger and mobilizes action. But no brain can flourish if it remains permanently dominated by its amygdala. The “amygdala hijack” has been noted byDaniel Goleman. Human flourishing depends equally upon theprefrontal cortex—the region responsible for planning, creativity, wisdom, empathy, systems thinking, and opportunity creation. The same is true for societies. Polycrisis is, in many respects, humanity’s collective amygdala hijack. It alerts us to cascading risks. It helps us survive. But it cannot, on its own, imagine entirely new futures. That requires our collective prefrontal cortex. An important contribution to this next step comes fromSir Geoff Mulganin his paper onGlobal Brains: the science and practice of collective intelligence at the level of whole systems, which argues that humanity must develop new forms of collective intelligence capable of integrating people, institutions, artificial intelligence, science and governance to address increasingly complex global challenges. We believe theBrain Economyprovides the complementary economic foundation for this vision. IfGlobal Brainsasks how humanity can think better together, the Brain Economy asks how societies intentionally invest in the human capabilities that make collective intelligence possible. Brain health. Education. Learning. Trust. Creativity. Wisdom. Innovation. These are no longer simply social goods. They are productive assets encompassed byBrain Capital. Collective intelligence does not emerge spontaneously. It grows from healthy brains, enabling institutions and economic systems that recognise human capability as a foundational form of capital. This invites a different question. Rather than asking only,“How do we manage interconnected crises?”we might instead ask,“How do we convert interconnected crises into interconnected opportunities?”We call this transitionfrom polycrisis to whatYuen Yuen Angcalls “polytunity“. Not ignoring crisis. Transforming it. The Brain Economy is fundamentally an economy organized around activating humanity’s collective prefrontal cortex. Artificial Intelligence → Human AmplificationArtificial intelligence is frequently portrayed as a threat to employment, cognition and human agency. The Brain Economy offers another perspective. Rather than replacing human capabilities, AI should amplify judgment, creativity, empathy, collaboration, and wisdom. TheMcKinsey Health Institute’sframework forBrain-Powered Organizationsprovides a practical example of how organizations can intentionally combine AI with investments in human capability. The opportunity is not simply smarter machines. It is wiser organizations. Urbanization → Brain-Positive PlacesCities have traditionally been designed for commerce and mobility. The next generation of cities should also be designed for brain health. Initiatives such asProject Metisare exploring how neuroscience, economics, urban planning, and investment can converge to create regions that enhance cognition, creativity, and wellbeing. Just this week, Project Metis launched theUS Brain Capital Index Report,which is the first national-level index developed in collaboration with theGlobal Brain Capital Indexteam. TheMilken Institute’swork onneurospatial designand theBrain Positive Cities Workshopin Barcelona illustrate the emergence of an international movement to embed brain health into the built environment. The cities of the future should aspire not merely to become smart. They should become brain-positive. Mental Health → Brain Capital InnovationMental illness represents one of humanity’s greatest challenges. Yet it is also catalyzing unprecedented innovation. Advances in biomarkers, precision psychiatry, digital diagnostics, preventive neuroscience and novel therapeutics are reshaping the future of brain health. As argued in“Can Psychiatry Lead in Building Brain Capital?“, psychiatry increasingly contributes not only to healthcare but also to economic resilience by strengthening brain capital across societies. Population Aging → The Wisdom EconomyPopulation aging is often discussed primarily as a fiscal challenge. Yet longevity also creates one of humanity’s greatest opportunities. ProfessorDilip Jeste’spioneering workdemonstrates that wisdom is a measurable capability that can be cultivated across the lifespan. The Brain Economy, therefore, encourages societies to recognize older adults not simply as dependants, but as reservoirs of wisdom, mentorship, resilience, and collective intelligence. Healthy longevity becomes an investment strategy. Climate Change → Green Brain CapitalClimate policy is often framed around emissions, energy and infrastructure. These remain essential. Yet the green transition also depends upon human cognition, leadership, and behavioral change. Colleagues from theInternational Neuro Climate Working Grouphave demonstrated the bidirectional relationship between healthy brains and healthy environments, highlighting that protecting nature and protecting brain health are mutually reinforcing objectives. The concept ofGreen Brain Capital(also seehereandhere) recognizes that sustainability ultimately depends upon human judgment, systems thinking, creativity, and collective intelligence. Climate, therefore, becomes not only an environmental challenge, but an opportunity to invest in the cognitive infrastructure of sustainable civilization. Capital Markets → Brain Lens InvestingNo economic transition succeeds without capital. If the Brain Economy provides the vision,brain lens investingprovides one mechanism for implementation. Emerging work bySecondMuse Capital,Grand Challenges Canadaand the McKinsey Health Institute argues that investors can intentionally evaluate opportunities through a brain health and brain capital lens—recognising that investments which strengthen cognitive wellbeing, learning, resilience and human capability generate both societal and long-term economic returns. Just as environmental, social and governance investing expanded how markets understand value, brain lens investing has the potential to expand how markets recognise human capability as an investable asset. Capital allocation itself becomes an instrument of polytunity. ConclusionThis is humanity’s opportunity to move from a civilization organized around responding to crises to one organized around cultivating possibility. LinkedIn article athttps://www. linkedin. com/pulse/brain-economy-responding-polycrisis-seizing-polytunity-harris-eyre-tnczc/