Healthy Longevity Global Competition
The Healthy Longevity Global Competition aims to stimulate an entire field by not only rewarding and advancing innovative ideas but also sharing those ideas with the world through a series of monetary awards and prizes. In the tradition of international races to fly across the Atlantic or walk on the moon, the competition will rally the world’s greatest minds to achieve what may at first seem an impossible goal.
About the Competition
The Healthy Longevity Global Competition began in 2020 and was open to innovators from any background in over 50 countries and territories through a network of Global Collaborator organizations. Applicants submitted ideas related to basic science, medical treatments, commercial products, technologies, social sciences, architectural and community design, or any other field – as long as they were bold, new, and innovative ideas to extend health and function as people age.
The Healthy Longevity Global Competition was founded by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM). The competition launched in parallel with an international commission assessing available evidence and recommending strategies for global societies to maximize the health and productivity of aging populations. Read the culmination of that effort, the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity, which the NAM published in 2022.
Phase 1
Catalyst Phase
In the Catalyst Phase, the NAM and its global partners administered and funded Catalyst Award competitions open to innovators in over 50 countries and territories. Over six annual cycles (2020-2025), the NAM and its partners issued 720 Catalyst Awards—totaling more than $36 million USD—to seed bold, innovative ideas and early-stage projects from across disciplines and with the potential to improve physical, mental, and social health and well-being as we age.
Phase 2
Accelerator Phase
In the Accelerator Phase of the Global Competition, 13 global Catalyst Awardees received support from Johnson & Johnson Innovation in 2021 and 2022 to continue on their innovation journey. Specifically, JJI ran two cycles of its Healthy Longevity QuickFire Challenge and issued approximately $2.5 million USD in grants plus mentorship opportunities to this select group of global innovators.
Phase 3
Grand Prize Phase
In 2026, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) will mark the culmination of its Healthy Longevity Global Competition by issuing nearly $2 million USD in the Grand Prize Phase. Awardees will include projects with the greatest impact—or potential for impact—on healthy longevity in humans. The Grand Prize Phase is open exclusively to the 720 global recipients of Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards, issued between 2020 and 2025 during an earlier phase of the Healthy Longevity Global Competition.
Acknowledgments
The NAM expresses its gratitude to the following sponsors who provided support for the Healthy Longevity Global Competition: Johnson & Johnson Innovation; John and Valerie Rowe; United Therapeutics Corporation; Anthony J. Yun and Kimberly A. Bazar; The John A. Hartford Foundation; Next50 Initiative; the Bia-Echo Foundation; and the Yun Family Foundation.
The NAM also expresses its gratitude to kENUP Foundation and Eisai for their consideration of global Catalyst Awardees at the Accelerator Phase.
The NAM also expresses its gratitude to the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) for its instrumental support and administration during the 2020 of the NAM Catalyst Awards.
The NAM acknowledges the guidance and leadership of its expert design committee:
- Tachi Yamada, MD, Chair, Frazier Healthcare Partners*
- H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, Co-Chair, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Mark C. Fishman, MD, Harvard University
- Nancy E. Adler, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
- Diane E. Griffin, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Marc Hodosh, Hodosh Productions
- Edward W. Holmes, MD, Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine
- Roderic Pettigrew, MD, PhD, Texas A&M University
- Keith Powers, Engaged Partners
- John (Jack) Rowe, MD, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- Sir Mark Walport, FRS, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, UK Research & Innovation
- Joon Yun, MD, Palo Alto Investors, LLC
Committee Membership Roster Comments
*Tachi Yamada passed away in August 2021.
The NAM also acknowledges the guidance and leadership of its Selection Committee, co-chaired by H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2020-2021), Roderic Pettigrew, MD, PhD, Texas A&M University (2021-present), and Timothy Evans, PhD, McGill University (2022-present).
Finally, the NAM expresses its sincere gratitude to the many reviewers—across disciplines, sectors, and geographies—who generously dedicated their time and effort to evaluate applications at each stage of the Healthy Longevity Global Competition.
