Early Lessons from a Systems Lens on Longevity

We are in week four of the Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI) practicum and I would like to start off my first key learnings with the soft skills required to be a constructive member of a group consulting project. In our first class with Sara, we reviewed different communication strategies, encouraging each of us to reflect on our communication methods and share these within our groups. Speaking to a SIRI alumni in that same class revealed that the 'same' approaches can diverge in understanding and reception across cultures, which has made me much more attentive to nuance in group work. In our team, we agreed on norms around open dialogue and monthly feedback loops, creating a space both to address unconscious impacts and to highlight positive contributions. This has been especially crucial in navigating the uncertainty of putting pen to paper on our project scope and so far, I believe this will be our superpower. 

Our consulting project centers on the theme of longevity, supported by a private equity partner alongside an innovation hub. The scope is intentionally broad: we are asked to assess how sustainable investment can drive solutions for an ageing society, with a specific focus on systems-level thinking. This means looking beneath the surface of demographic shifts and asking about root causes, e.g. declining birth rates, healthcare system pressures, intergenerational inequality, and how these drivers connect to financial resilience, healthy ageing, and social cohesion. Our client has encouraged us to use frameworks like the iceberg model to move beyond symptoms and uncover the underlying structures shaping longevity challenges. A holistic solution must consider financial design (blended capital to lower the cost of care), product innovation (accessible technologies for older adults), and community strategies (events, education). This 'whole system' framing has influenced how our team structures its research questions, ensuring we do not focus too narrowly on one part of the puzzle.

My relationship to this project is multiple. After working in the VC space in London, I attempted to join the Swiss VC ecosystem, specifically through the theme of longevity. Switzerland has been positioning itself as a hub for this conversation, with exclusive conferences in Gstaad that mirror the format of WEF. That context helped me see how longevity is being branded as both a frontier of innovation but also as a reflection of inequality, depending on how access is structured. This raises questions of accessibility and whether the longevity economy can or should be inclusive from the start. 

Coincidentally, longevity also made its way into my Climate Week experience. I attended a conference where Reid Hoffman spoke about Manas AI, his new venture with Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. The company uses artificial intelligence to accelerate the drug discovery process, starting with treatments for aggressive cancers. Dr. Mukherjee made a point that elderly people are not dying of cancer itself but from the inability of stem cells to regenerate. This reframes longevity not only as a matter of curing disease, but as understanding the biology of aging. It also connected back to our client discussions around education and community engagement: where does this timeline begin? Should longevity awareness and preparation start already in schools, or only later in universities and workplaces?

Taking a step back, I think this project requires the kind of classical whiteboard brainstorming that allows you to map out the circles of impact and financial viability, and then look for the grey spaces where they overlap. That, to me, feels true to the nature of impact investing. From this experience, I expect to gain sharper skills in turning broad themes into clear research questions, applying systems thinking to practical challenges, and experimenting with models that balance cost of capital with social outcomes. I also expect to deepen my understanding of how cultural context shapes innovation, and to reflect personally on whether longevity can be designed inclusively rather than exclusively.