Building the American Brain Economy

izzuan/AdobeStock

COMMENTARY

“Our brains are in the red right when we need them in the black.” - Eric Mullins, Chair of the Greater Houston Partnership

The workplace demands analytical thinking, creativity, and resilience, and our nation urgently needs more advanced skills to push vital economic transitions, such as the digital and green transitions, to outpace near-peer competitors and drive global sustainability.^1,2 Unfortunately, these brain skills needs come at a time of historically poor brain health, exemplified by high and rising rates of mental and neurological disorders across the lifespan.³ Loneliness is rising while educational outcomes in America are failing.⁴ Artificial intelligence (AI) is yielding an exponential rise in brain hacking, mis- and disinformation, addictive social media algorithms, as well as cybercrime.⁵ There is no silver bullet for solving our brain challenges; we need a systemic set of policies to stop and reverse the loss of American brain capital, encompassing social, emotional and cognitive brain resources, and to chart a course to a more productive, creative, and flourishing nation.⁶

The Brain Economy

The costs of mental health and neurological disorders are projected to soar into the trillions and our brains are under mounting pressure to navigate an increasingly complex world.⁷ A radical new approach is needed to protect and build our brain capital. Transitioning from a nation struggling to address brain health deficits to one that proactively advances brain health, performance, and skills—a brain-positive economic transformation—will require a systems approach.^8,9

Just as with the green economy, the brain economy will require major transitions across most major sectors. No single technology, policy, or actor can achieve these critical shifts. Rather, it will take a community of individuals working together across systems to employ innovative solutions and accelerate change.

Fortunately, we are living through a neuroscience renaissance, exemplified by advances in basic brain science ie, brain imaging, gene editing, microsensors, brain-computer interfaces, and AI.¹⁰ Thus, there are increasing opportunities to better screen, diagnose, manage, and prevent these challenges.

Brain Capital Is Foundational to Existing Federal Policy Strategies

The US economy is undergoing significant transitions driven by global trends, including the shift to a green economy with a focus on clean energy, decarbonization, and green jobs. Technological transformation, led by AI and automation, is reshaping industries, while supply chain realignments are pushing for resilience and reshoring critical manufacturing. The labor market is evolving with more remote work and gig economy participation, alongside challenges of an aging population.

Despite important policy initiatives such as the Chips and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law making critical investments in manufacturing and infrastructure, US competitiveness and leadership in the future economy is not guaranteed.^11,12 Successfully navigating these challenges to achieve equitable prosperity will require cognitive skills, innovation, resilience, and human intelligence—in other words, brain capital.

Without a commensurate, coordinated, proactive commitment to the cognitive well-being and resilience of workers required to shepherd in this new green-digital-knowledge economy, we risk not only competitiveness and prosperity but also human progress and survival. Good paying jobs in this new world require advanced skills and high levels of worker performance and well-being. Brain capital is foundational.

Recommendations for a White House Brain Economy Council

We recommend the development of a White House Brain Capital Council to steward a coordinated approach to transition from a brain-negative to a brain-positive economy.¹³ This would leverage the methodology of the Brain Capital Dashboard and the Systems Change Lab.¹⁴ The Council would advise the President on US and global brain capital policy and coordinate policy and research across federal agencies.

The Council would craft and implement policies to promote brain health (including mental health and neurological wellbeing) resilience, performance and skills in order to promote both health and economic prosperity. The Council would identify and resolve gaps in science, investment and policy, identify opportunities for transformation, and advise the President on insights and actions to catalyze change with our partners and coalitions vying for a new way forward.

Preliminary Recommendations

We must recognize the national importance of our premier neuroscience research and explore ways to maintain, increase and transition funding. The president of the US National Academy of Science recently gave a major address reporting that American science is slipping into a dangerous decline, while Chinese research surges.¹⁵ This comes in the same year, 2024, when Congress reduced the National Institute of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative budget by 40% compared to 2023, forcing a significant reduction in the number of new awards at the cutting edge of neuroscience.¹⁶

We must recognize that American brain capital is a national security priority. Our brains can either boost or impair our national security. We must increase investment in the brain health of military and national security personnel as a critical national defense readiness element. We must manage the emergence of dual-use brain-computer interfaces which our near-peer competitors are developing with little ethical oversight.¹⁷ We must develop a policy, education and technology-based Psychological Defense Agency, akin to one led by the Swedish Government, to protect the American community from brain-hacking foreign disinformation which is exponentially increasing.¹⁸

We should expand our definition of good jobs and job quality to include brain healthy workplaces. Today a good, high quality job is one that not only provides living wages, equitable opportunity and a safe, healthy place and culture in which to work, but one that values and enhances mental and cognitive wellbeing and performance. The world of the Business Collaborative for Brain Health is an exemplar to monitor.

We must address the negative impacts of climate change on brain health. Recent studies suggest increasing temperatures can impair mental health, and weather-related disasters may accelerate brain aging.^19,20 Climate change- and environment-related neuroscience explores the impact of environmental factors on brain health and requires dedicated government funding to study and develop solutions.²¹

We should create and fund an Advanced Research Project Agency for education (ARPA-ED) that advances neuroscience innovation. We applaud the recent report on education’s vital role in America’s economic competitiveness from the Aspen Strategy Group and the Walton Family Foundation.²² It proposes an ARPA-ED. We agree and recommend this involves neuroscience as a key pillar. Educational neuroscience is a key area of innovation. By understanding how the brain develops and learns, we can deploy more effective educational strategies that enhance cognitive skills and creativity. This is particularly important in preparing individuals for the demands of heavily skill-based economies.

We should develop and implement a comprehensive US Brain Health Plan. National brain health plans, such as those implemented in Switzerland and Finland, provide comprehensive frameworks for promoting brain health at the population level.^23,24 These plans include initiatives for early detection and intervention of mental health and neurological impairments, public awareness campaigns, and support for research and innovation in brain health. Such a national plan would build on and strengthen National Alzheimer’s Project Act and other national mental and neurological strategies to form a coordinated approach across the lifespan.

America should lead global brain economy efforts. Given the borderless nature of these manifold brain challenges, the brain economy work can also form part of US foreign policy.²⁵ The US State Department needs to actively engage in the development of the Yaounde Declaration for the Brain Economy, codeveloped between US academic stakeholders and the Cameroon Government for the United Nations General Assembly Science Summit.²⁶ Further, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies such as the United Kingdom and the European Commission have expressed policy priorities of optimized economic competitiveness where the brain economy add value.^27,28 Given the success of brain health on the G7 agenda in Italy this year, the brain economy would make a progressive platform for the G7 Calgary, Canada, in 2025.²⁹

Concluding Thoughts

America is in a delicate position with economic mite building among many other more populous global powers in the coming decades. We must therefore ensure our investment focus is not only on manufacturing and technology, but also on the brain power of those who will manage and lead these sectors.

Dr Eyre is the lead of Neuro-Policy and Harry Z. Yan and Weiman Gao Senior Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He is also the Executive Director of the Brain Capital Alliance and an adjunct associate professor at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry. Dr Sheth is the Cullen Foundation Chair, vice chair of Research, and McNair Scholar in the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also the director of Cain Laboratories at Texas Children’s Hospital. Ms O’Brien is the vice president for prevention at UsAgainstAlzhiemer’s.

References

1. Future of jobs report 2023. World Economic Forum. May 2023. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2023.pdf

2. Eyre HA, Mannix D, Veedu V, et al. Brain capital’s role in US-China competition. Baker Institute for Public Policy. December 4, 2023. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/china-competition-strategy-needs-brain-capital

3. Croxson P. Survey finds brain health is a top priority for Americans. Dana Foundation. January 14, 2023. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://dana.org/article/survey-finds-brain-health-is-a-top-priority-for-americans/

4. The National Commission on Excellence in Education. A nation at risk: the imperative for educational reform. April 1983. Accessed October 15, 2024. http://edreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf

5. Eyre HA, Hynes W, Ling GFL, et al. From neuroweapons to ‘neuroshields’: safeguarding brain capital for national security. Baker Institute for Public Policy. August 10, 2023. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/neuroweapons-neuroshields-safeguarding-brain-capital-national-security

6. Eyre HA. Enhancing brain power, enriching economies: the potential of an American brain capital industry. Baker Institute for Public Policy. October 10, 2023. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/enhancing-brain-power-enriching-economies-potential-american-brain-capital-industry

7. Understanding brain health around the world. Brain Health Atlas. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://brainhealthatlas.org

8. Moose A, Enomoto K, Eyre HA. Brain gain: how improving brain health benefits the economy. World Economic Forum. September 9, 2024. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/preview/619b4401-4db7-4109-93a3-745c24e6d0aa/

9. Systems Change Lab. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://systemschangelab.org

10. Garde D. A ‘renaissance in neuroscience’ could deliver a fresh crop of psychiatric medicines. Stat News. February 28, 2024. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.statnews.com/2024/02/28/neuroscience-research-fuels-new-generation-psychiatric-drugs/

11. Fact sheet: CHIPS and Science Act will lower costs, create jobs, strengthen supply chains, and counter China. The White House. August 9, 2022. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/09/fact-sheet-chips-and-science-act-will-lower-costs-create-jobs-strengthen-supply-chains-and-counter-china/

12. Fact sheet: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. The White House. November 6, 2021. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/

13. Dawson WD, Graham C, Smith E, et al. Build brains better: a proposal for a White House Brain Capital Council to accelerate post-COVID recovery and resilience. Brookings. December 22, 2021. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/build-brains-better-a-proposal-for-a-white-house-brain-capital-council-to-accelerate-post-covid-recovery-and-resilience/

14. Ayadi R, Eyre HA, Graham C, et al. The global brain capital dashboard. Brookings. September 26, 2023. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-global-brain-capital-dashboard/

15. McNutt M. The state of the science address. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. June 26, 2024. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/41687_06-2024_the-state-of-the-science

16. Understanding the BRAIN Initiative Budget. National Institutes of Health. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://braininitiative.nih.gov/funding/understanding-brain-initiative-budget

17. Kosal M, Putney J. Neurotechnology and international security: predicting commercial and military adoption of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) in the United States and China. Politics Life Sci. 2023;42(1):81-103.

18. Psychological Defense Agency. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://mpf.se/psychological-defence-agency

19. Niu L, Girma B, Liu B, et al. Temperature and mental health–related emergency department and hospital encounters among children, adolescents and young adults. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2023;32:e22.

20. Watowich MM, Chiou KL, Montague MJ, et al. Natural disaster and immunological aging in a nonhuman primate. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022;119(8):e2121663119.

21. Ibanez A, Melloni L, Świeboda P, et al. Neuroecological links of the exposome and One Health. Neuron. 2024;112(12):1905-1910.

22. The Aspen Strategy Group. Fortifying America’s future: pathways for competitiveness. Aspen Security Forum. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.aspensecurityforum.org/post/fortifying-america-s-future-pathways-for-competitiveness

23. Bassetti CLA, Heldner MR, Adjoran K, et al. The Swiss Brain Health Plan 2023–2033. Clin Transl Neurosci. 2023;7(4):38.

24. Finland’s Brian Capital. The National Brain health Programme. Accessed October 15, 2024. https://www.aivoliitto.fi/en/nationalbrainhealthprogramme/

25. Dawson WD, Bobrow K, Ibanez A, et al. The necessity of diplomacy in brain health. Lancet Neurol. 2020;19(12):972-974.

26. Njamnshi AK, Ibanez A, Singh G, et al. The Yaoundé Declaration. Lancet Neurol. 2024;23(10):966-967.

27. Kickstart economic growth. Labour.org. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://labour.org.uk/change/kickstart-economic-growth/

28. EU competitiveness: looking ahead. European Commission. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://commission.europa.eu/topics/strengthening-european-competitiveness/eu-competitiveness-looking-ahead_en

29. Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative sounds alarm on the urgency of a global response to Alzheimer’s, calling on G7 leaders to move swiftly. European Brain Council. October 8, 2024. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://www.braincouncil.eu/g7/