From Knowledge to Action: Summer 2026 Thought Leadership Recap

With Canada joining the list of super-aged nations as of 2026, brain health has grown to be more than just a healthcare issue; it intersects with our economy and our society. But there is a potential response to this critical issue: innovation.

Blog Thought Leadership |

Innovation can support brain health and strengthen our economy; however, innovators need support—evidence-based research, end-use engagement, artificial intelligence strategies, and cross-sector collaboration—to answer this urgent call to action.

This past summer, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest, helped advance these exact conversations from several vantage points: mobilizing knowledge, engaging policymakers, making the economic case for brain health, and bringing Canadian perspectives to global forums. Together, these moments illustrate what it takes to turn promising ideas into better outcomes for older persons, care partners, health systems, and economies.

Moving Insights to Impact

Sept. 23, 2026

Taking brain health to the global policy stage

At Brain Days during the 81st United Nations General Assembly—an event that brought together policymakers, scientists, innovators, patient advocates, funders and international organizations to explore research funding, science diplomacy, global partnerships, brain capital, prevention, and resilience—Dr. Allison Sekuler, President and Chief Scientist of CABHI and the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, presented Innovation at the Intersection of Super-Aging, Economic Resilience, and Brain Health.

The presentation underscored the importance of global collaboration in advancing brain health research and catalyzing innovation, helping ensure that older persons everywhere can live with purpose, fulfilment, and dignity, while strengthening communities and economies around the world.

Photo: Dr. Allison Sekuler presenting at Brain Days, taken by Nick Starichenko.

Sept. 22, 2026

Moving prevention and early detection upstream

At the Global Brain Economy Summit in New York City, Dr. Allison Sekuler, President and Chief Scientist of CABHI and the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, joined the panel Pivoting Upstream: Making Prevention and Early Detection the Norm. The discussion examined how brain health systems can shift toward the preclinical phase of brain disorders, with a focus on research agenda priorities, pathways for prevention-related innovations to reach market, system readiness for primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, and the stakeholder collaboration needed to make prevention and early detection the norm.

The Summit positioned brain health, brain skills, and human capabilities as central to building resilience and driving prosperity. This framing expands the policy conversation around prevention beyond a clinical objective, recognizing it as a broader strategy for strengthening the workforce, boosting productivity, and supporting economic growth.

Sept. 10, 2026

Making the case for AI and the longevity economy

In the Canadian Science Policy Centre editorial Using AI to Solve the Most Urgent Societal Challenge of Our Time is a No-Brainer, CABHI leaders Sean Fitch and Adi Rittenberg argued that population aging must be understood as both a profound challenge and a major market opportunity. AI can accelerate prevention, early detection, personalized interventions, and more efficient models of care—while enabling Canadian companies to build scalable technologies for global demand.

Read the editorial on our AgeTech Insights Report+ Articles page.

July 30, 2026

Connecting research and innovation to Ontario's future

On July 30, 2026, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest, welcomed the Hon. Nolan Quinn (Ontario Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security-MCURES) and Mohamed Firin, MPP for York South—Weston, to the CABHI campus to explore opportunities for deeper collaboration in support of better brain health, job creation and supporting the discovery and exploitation of Ontario-made intellectual property (IP). Throughout the visit, CABHI leadership showcased how the pan-Canadian aging and brain health innovation catalyst is advancing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered innovation and critical technologies that create jobs and drive investment, promoting research excellence and building innovation partnerships across Ontario’s innovation ecosystem.

Read more about the visit on our blog.

July 28, 2026

Mobilizing Knowledge at the Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum

At the Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum in Toronto, CABHI’s Adi Rittenberg and Dr. Negar Mazloum-Farzaghi presented AgeTech Insights: A Partnership Model for Collaborative Knowledge and Action. Their Catalyst Roundtable explored how partnership-driven knowledge mobilization can connect stakeholders, generate actionable evidence, and support innovation across the aging and brain health ecosystem.

The forum also featured Baycrest’s Defy Dementia team—Dr. Rosanne Aleong, Dr. Sylvain Dubroqua, and Kataryna Nemethy—who led an interactive workshop on applying Universal Design for Learning principles to dementia risk-reduction communication. The session showed that evidence creates impact only when people can understand it, relate to it, and act on it.

Subscribe to the CABHI newsletter

* indicates required