Why does Longevity represent one of the most important challenges of the coming years?
«In recent years, the academic and scientific research worlds have developed the concept of longevity society: a society in which humanity will see an increase in life expectancy, but above all an improvement in the quality of sight itself, on a physical and mental level. According to World Social Report 2023[1] of the United Nations, the number of people aged 2050 and over is expected to double to more than 65 billion by 1,6, and globally, a child born in 2021 could expect to live almost 25 years on average more than a newborn in 1950.
To support an increasingly long-lived society, the challenge is to promote a healthy lifestyle and develop new social paradigms regarding welfare policies, economics, work and city organization. A change that will require the development of a new political, social and administrative awareness, to maximize the opportunities that derive from a longer life and to ensure that the benefits of research on longevity can bring positive repercussions on the entire population. It is a challenge that offers great opportunities for adaptation and growth, also because the generation of baby boomers has arrived in old age, with all the impact of their number and spending capacity. But it also presents critical issues, such as the contraction in the number of people of working age, and the concomitant increase in welfare needs. Trends that can test public budgets, undermining cohesion between European regions and countries, effectively changing the (positive) relationship between health and economic indicators. The question then arises as to what development models could be adopted to act proactively on a critical issue that affects our societies globally. Paradoxically, on the one hand we are witnessing a real gold rush, I call it there Longevity rush, as there once was gold rush: private investors, companies, funds, silver economy... On the other hand, there is a risk of the collapse of welfare and public budgets."
How did the choice to talk about Longevity in Lugano during an international summit which will see the presence of qualified international scholars come about?
«Ticino is one of the longest-lived European regions and in various respects it finds itself dealing with a topic that must be addressed in an interdisciplinary way. Go through one aging society to longevity society requires a multigenerational vision and targeted strategies to support all segments of the population.
If we analyze the problem from the point of view of young people, we cannot ignore the problems that a society in which the elderly are preponderant can create for them. And this was denounced by a Japanese film released last year, “Plan 75” which begins with a boy who shoots himself in the mouth to protest against a society of old people who no longer give space to young people, thus pushing the government to develop a collective euthanasia plan for those over seventy-five. It is a paradox which, however, must make us reflect on the need to develop programs for a sustainable society, where there is space for everyone, where generational exchange is possible, through a commitment shared by all citizens, institutions, political representatives, scholars and researchers. This is why we will present in Lugano, thanks to the presence of Nic Palmarini, director of NICA, the National Innovation Center for Aging, the Cities of Longevity project, which we hope Lugano will want to join. It is a platform shared by cities around the world to jointly address urban planning taking into account the increase in citizens' lives. Buenos Aires, Berlin, Vienna, Lisbon are already part of it. Practically they put together statistics, ideas, projects and results to create a know-how that allows planning urban growth aware of new needs and critical issues. Over the years, Lugano has become a reference not only regionally and cantonal for the so-called silvereconomy, the sector of economic activities operating in the care of the elderly, with projects and activities aimed precisely at inclusion and exchange between residents of all ages. All this, together with the international consolidation of its universities, USI and SUPSI, the investments for new campuses, the birth of a Faculty of Biomedicine, the growth of its biomedical research institutes, makes Lugano the ideal place to reflect on the topic from the Longevity. Italian Switzerland with its scientific institutions is increasingly becoming a center for reflection and research around the theme of longevity and aging, complex topics, often approached with prejudice and little knowledge.
The Lugano summit, organized by the BrainCircle Lugano Association, is promoted by several prestigious institutions.
«The topic is deeply felt at all levels, starting from the Municipality, which granted us patronage, and from the University of Italian Switzerland (Faculty of Biomedical Sciences). With USI we have already organized an event of great social resonance in the past, a symposium on racism. And then the University of Applied Sciences of Italian Switzerland, SUPSI (DEASS, Senior Skills Centre), and the Sir John Eccles Foundation, with which we have collaborated in great harmony for a long time. The non-profit association BrainCircle Lugano, which I founded five years ago together with an extraordinary group of people who enthusiastically dedicate themselves to organizing scientific culture events open to all, has the mission to collaborate with other organizations in the area to promote the growth of awareness and culture in the population, which are the basis of a democracy like the Swiss one, which is based on the continuous participation of citizens in political and administrative choices. Our event is aimed at the general public, but also at scholars, administrators, doctors and healthcare professionals, with prestigious researchers and intellectuals at an international and national level on the topic of longevity and healthy aging."
There is great anticipation for some of the leading international experts, authors of world bestsellers, real stars, present in Lugano to talk about the most cutting-edge research on the topic of aging...
«There is no doubt about the appeal of names like David Sinclair, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research and Nir Barzilai, professor of medicine and genetics, director of the Institute for Aging research at the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Together with them Shai Efrati, which has developed a hyperbaric medicine project to rejuvenate the body and brain which is also arousing great interest in Ticino, and Nic Palmarini, which I have already talked about. But if these are the names that arouse the most curiosity, also because the grass is always greener on the other side, let's not underestimate the great Swiss and Italian scientists who honor us with their presence, like Giovanni Pedrazzini, of the Cardiology Service of the Cardiocentro Institute of Lugano, from 2021 dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Italian Switzerland. Or the philosopher Francesca Rigotti, who published more than thirty books and was a professor in one of the most prestigious universities in the world for philosophy, that of Göttingen, and Andrea Alimonti professor at USI and the Polytechnic University of Zurich, award-winning for his oncology research and on the mechanisms of cellular senescence, Emiliano Albanese, professor of Public Health at USI and director of the WHO Center for research and training in mental health. It's still, Maria Giulia Bacalini, head of the Brain Aging laboratory at the University of Bologna, Fabrizio Mazzonna, director of the Department of Economics of USI and member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Society of Health Economics (SGGOE), Laurie Corna, who teaches aging and quality of life at Supsi and the sociologist Stefano Cavalli, responsible for Italian Switzerland of the Swiss100 project, the first study on centenarians in Switzerland. I want to thank Fabio Meliciani, scientific journalist and event organizer, with whom I have been collaborating for years now, if we have managed to put together such a prestigious group of speakers".
Can we recall your long professional career in the field of scientific dissemination and in particular neuroscience?
«In 2010 I founded BrainCircleItalia, a non-profit association for the dissemination of the most cutting-edge research in the field of neuroscience, with the support of Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini, and Pietro Calissano, then President of EBRI (European Brain Research Institute). This project then gave rise to BrainCircleLugano in 2019, which operates in the Ticino area with the same objectives. Over the years I have been constantly involved in the field of scientific dissemination, collaborating with the most important newspapers in print, radio and television and I have organized conferences, seminars, forums, television and online meetings, documentaries, lectures in theatres, film festivals on neuroscience , in collaboration with the main Italian institutions, universities and international research centres".
Specifically, what are the areas in which BrainCircleLugano operates?
«Our goal is to disseminate neuroscience with a language that is immediately understandable to the general public, without compromising on scientific rigor, to present the most advanced and innovative research, provoking reflection on their ethical impact in everyday life, and on the scenarios of the near future, to bring young people in research, promoting a multidisciplinary approach, facilitating exchange and knowledge between local researchers and scientists from all over the world.”
[1] Leaving No One Behind In An Aging World – World Social Report 2023, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, https://social.desa.un.org/sites/default/files/publications/2023-02/WorldSocialReport2023.pd
