High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy Announces Bayer AG as Strategic Partner

Bayer AG CEO Werner Baumann to address the need for innovative healthy aging strategy

New York, NY (July 3, 2019) – The Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), the global business voice on aging, and the Finnish EU Council Presidency, which commences in July 2019, have joined together to organize the High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy. It is the first-ever conference focused on business and government leadership, on a global basis, to reimagine aging. The Forum will take place in Helsinki, Finland, on July 9-10 at the iconic Finlandia Hall. One of the core issues to be explored at the Forum is innovations for healthy aging.

Bayer AG, a multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company, joins the Forum as a Strategic Partner. Werner Baumann, Chief Executive Officer of Bayer AG, will be a featured speaker at the conference. Baumann will discuss the need for innovation in advancing a healthy aging agenda.

“Today’s growing health and economic challenges related to aging population require innovative solutions from stakeholders all across society” said Baumann. “As a leading life sciences company we are striving to find solutions for unmet medical needs to tackle  age-related diseases. Ultimately, we want to continue to make a meaningful contribution to society, enabling a healthier and more active aging for all.”

The global population over 60 is set to double between today and 2050, from 1 billion to 2 billion. While longevity is on the rise, birth rates are on a precipitous decline, leading to the rapid aging of society — trends never before experienced in human history. The demands for public policy change aligned to one of the most consequential megatrends of our era is matched by the opportunities for business strategies leveraging the $15 trillion silver market.

An invitation-only event, the Forum will draw approximately 500 delegates, including government leaders from around the world, CEOs from Fortune 100 companies, and thought leaders from academia and non-governmental organizations to offer solutions and innovative ideas that position the aging of society as a lever for growth, rather than a drain on society. Viewing population aging through this lens is good for citizens of all ages—imagining how we might behave when 100-year lives are the norm across the globe.

“Healthy aging must be a central component of any company’s business strategy and any country’s policy decision-making process,” said Dr. John Beard, former Director of Ageing and life Course at the World Health Organization and Chair of the Global Coalition on Aging Advisory Council. “Silver Economy Forum presents the first-ever global gathering of business and government leaders to provide real and practical solutions that leverage our aging population for growth.”

The Silver Economy Forum’s two-day event will:

  • Illuminate the silver economy business opportunity. With the world’s 60+ population doubling between now and 2050, today’s 60+ spending power of US$15 trillion will grow even stronger. This group is larger and healthier and more active than ever before, so how will companies serve and leverage this untapped market?
  • Define strategies for the multi-generational workforce.All employers are faced with critical talent issues as the workforce ages and for the first time ever there are five generations in the same workplace. The very concept of retirement at a pre-determined age is now obsolete. How can employers navigate and grow in this changing environment?
  • Set the policy agenda.  Strategic planning through an aging lens will be the most important consideration for government policy in the coming decades. From health and wellness to caregiving, and from NCDs and conditions of aging to social and financial benefits, aging will be the central driver of policy reform. How will national policies adapt, and what role will business play?

About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2018, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of 39.6 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.6 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.2 billion euros. Bayer is a member of the Global Coalition on Aging. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

About the Global Coalition on Aging
The Global Coalition on Aging aims to reshape how global leaders’ approach and prepare for the 21st century’s profound shift in population aging. GCOA uniquely brings together global corporations across industry sectors with common strategic interests in aging populations, a comprehensive and systemic understanding of aging, and an optimistic view of its impact. Through research, public policy analysis, advocacy, and strategic communications, GCOA is advancing innovative solutions and working to ensure global aging is a path to health, productivity and economic growth.

Latest Developments

We keep our members and partners in touch with the most recent updates and opinions in the worldwide dialogue on population longevity and related issues.

What Old Age Might Be Like for Today’s 30-Year-Olds

Get ready for a new old age. With the U.S. fertility rate in a decadelong slump and the life expectancy of 65-year-old Americans approaching roughly 85, our aging nation is likely to grow older by midcentury, as the ratio of young to old continues to decline. The trend is likely to upend how our society is organized, making life very different for today’s 30-year-olds when they reach their 60s compared with life for 60-year-olds now.

World Population Reaches 8bn As It Grows Older

The world’s population reached 8bn people on Tuesday and will hit 9bn in 15 years as it experiences an unprecedented surge in the number of older people, according to the latest UN data. The global fertility rate has more than halved since the 1950s to 2.3 births per woman. With mortality also falling, the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to rise from 783mn in 2022 to 1bn by 2030 and reach 1.4bn by 2043, the UN population data revealed.

Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) Launches Cross-Sector Alliance Committed to Health Innovation at High-Level Forum on The Silver Economy

Today, the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), along with cross-sector stakeholders representing patient advocacy, policy, industry, and academic communities, announced the launch of the Alliance for Health Innovation at the High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy in New York. The Alliance is dedicated to establishing the importance of innovation in achieving healthy aging and health equity through investments, policy reforms, and strategic partnerships.

Japan Must Face Up to Growing Danger of Drug-resistant Germs

In the wake of more than 6.4 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide and unprecedented economic destruction, the global community has no excuse to be caught unprepared for the next pandemic. Yet right now, a devastating parallel plague is already underway and worsening. Some years, it is killing well over 1 million people, according to medical journal The Lancet.

A Bipartisan Bill Could Prevent The Next Pandemic

In Washington, Republicans and Democrats are typically at loggerheads when it comes to healthcare policy. Just consider the recent Inflation Reduction Act, which made extensive changes to Medicare and also extended Affordable Care Act subsidies. Every single congressional Democrat voted for the legislation, while every single member of the GOP voted against it. But occasionally, a bill is such an obviously good idea, and so desperately needed, that it commands significant bipartisan support. The PASTEUR Act, co-sponsored by 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans in the House and two members of each party in the Senate, is just such a bill.

Korea Must Act Now to Combat Growing AMR Threat

Public officials are overlooking one of the gravest long-term threats to the Korean people, the health system, and economy: antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Some pathogens ― bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses ― have evolved strains that resist the antimicrobial medications we currently have available to fight them. Health care professionals often must watch helplessly as patients succumb to infections that antibiotics could once have easily beaten. They know that new antimicrobials, including and especially antibiotics, could easily gain the victory ― but they have none at their disposal.

Policy Statement on the Impact of Price Negotiations on Innovation, Healthy Aging and Equity

As the CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and a newly formed cross-sector Alliance for Health Innovation, we write to express our deep concern with the current legislation that allows for price “negotiations” in Medicare – a thinly veiled signal for America’s plunge into price controls that will have a devastating and adverse impact on biopharmaceutical innovation and our nations’ ability to support healthy aging.