The U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) will host Catalyzing Healthy Longevity: NAM Global Innovator Summit on October 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. This landmark event marks the culmination of the NAM’s Healthy Longevity Global Competition, a seven-year initiative that helped catalyze a global movement to accelerate research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in pursuit of longer, healthier lives.
The Summit builds on the momentum of the Global Competition to help shape the future of healthy longevity. Bringing together some of the world’s leading scientists, innovators, investors, policymakers, philanthropists, and emerging leaders in this critical field, the program will explore the breakthroughs, partnerships, and bold ideas that are transforming our understanding of aging and redefining what is possible for health across the lifespan. Through keynote addresses, multidisciplinary panel discussions, and presentations from the Global Competition’s top innovators, participants will examine the scientific advances, translational pathways, global collaborations, and ethical and societal considerations that will shape the next era of healthy longevity. Together, they will explore how the global community can accelerate innovation, strengthen collaboration, and translate discovery into meaningful improvements in healthspan for people around the world.
Agenda Highlights
- Grand Prize Award Ceremony
- Healthy Longevity as a National Priority: The Why
- The Future of Healthspan: Breakthrough Science and Technologies Transforming Aging: The What
- Healthy Longevity Showcase
- Grand Prize Awardee Spotlight
- Building the Healthy Longevity Innovation Ecosystem: The How
- Shaping the Future of Healthy Longevity: Ethics, Communication, and Public Trust
Detailed agenda coming soon.
View past Global Innovator Summits.
About the Healthy Longevity Program
Launched in 2019, the Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge included two components: the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity (published in 2022) and the Global Competition. Through the Competition, the NAM and global partners have advanced bold, innovative ideas with the potential to improve physical, mental, and social health and well-being as people age. The Catalyst Award competitions were open to innovators in more than 50 countries and territories, the NAM and its partners supported early-stage projects across disciplines and around the world. Over six annual cycles from 2020 to 2025, the program issued 720 Catalyst Awards and 13 Accelerator Awards, totaling more than $38 million USD, to seed transformative approaches to healthy longevity.
The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Medicine—collectively, the National Academies—are independent, non-partisan, and tax exempt. The mission of the National Academies is the provision of trusted, evidence-based advice. It is essential to the execution of the mission that participants in our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. Statements and presentations made are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academies.
