First-of-its-kind Longevity Nation conference presented by VETEK Association brought together a critical density of international Longevity thought-leaders and decision makers, resulting in a groundbreaking set of resolutions designed to guide Israel towards its emergence as a pre-eminent international Longevity Industry hub.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023, Tel Aviv, Israel: A landmark Longevity conference, Longevity Nation, was held in Tel Aviv on March 26-27 by Vetek Association, STS-BIU, and the Shlomo Tyran Foundation, which culminated in the drafting of a core set of resolutions by its conference organisers and partners which taken together aim to ‘advance the geroscience and healthy longevity field, nationally and internationally, for the benefit of the elderly and the entire population’, providing a strong foundation for future work towards the emergence of Israel as a pre-eminent full-scope Longevity Hub.
Some of the resolution’s core action items included:
The need to increase resources and investments for the geroscience and healthy longevity field.
The need to increase education in the field of geroscience and healthy longevity, on all levels and for all segments of society.
The need to establish and improve evaluation measures for degenerative aging, early detection and prevention of aging-related diseases and to implement these evaluation measures in preventive health programs for the aging population.
The full set of resolutions achieved at the conference can be read here:
It should be noted that this conference is not just a top-level scientific meeting, but also, and even mainly, a longevity advocacy event. This conference is a revival of many advocacy efforts to advance research, development and education for healthy longevity. This is the first live conference that the Vetek association organized in over 3 years since the International Perspectives on Geroscience conference that we co-organized together with the NIH NIA in Weizmann Institute of Science in 2019. Thus, this is a revival of our live outreach, large scale personal knowledge exchange and massive longevity community building in Israel.
The very theme of the conference: “Enhancing research, development and education for healthy longevity” is a reminder about the program section under this title that was included, at the initiative of the Vetek Association, in the Israel National Masterplan on Aging, published by Knesset in 2019. This conference is an effort to revive that program, to bring it again to the attention and hopefully also to the implementation of the decision makers. In fact, the resolutions that were adopted by the conference are a recapitulation of the recommendations made in that section of the Israel National Masterplan on Aging in support of “Research, Development and Education for Healthy Longevity and Prevention of Aging-related Disease”, such as enhancing funding, educational programs and metrics development. We hope that thanks to this conference, thanks to the amazing demonstration of cooperation and support for the advancement of the longevity field, not just in Israel, but internationally, especially by our partners, such as the Department of Science, Technology and Society of Bar-Ilan University, Shlomo Tyran Foundation, Biogerontology Research Foundation, Aging Analytics Agency, International Longevity Alliance and others, we will succeed in reviving several earlier efforts and starting new efforts to further enhance the longevity advocacy initiatives in Israel and internationally.
The main themes of the conference
The conference brought together a critical mass of Longevity thought-leaders and definitively established Israel’s reputation as a burgeoning Longevity Hub with very strong potential to emerge as a leading international hub of Longevity science, technology, R&D policy and industrialization in the years to come.
Longevity Nation explored the interdisciplinary interrelations of science, technology and society in addressing the challenges of population aging. By bringing together leading voices in the longevity space and public figures, the Longevity Nation conference will strongly contribute to increasing the synergy of science, technology and aging society, and help advance ethical scientific and technological solutions for healthy longevity for the benefit of the entire society. Building on Israel’s strengths in this area, this conference sought to help build the supportive longevity ecosystem in Israel, boost the prominence of the field in Israel and enhance Israel’s international standing and cooperation in the Longevity field.
The full set of conference participants included:
Ilia Stambler, Vetek Association, Bar Ilan University
Aubrey de Grey, LEV Foundation
Nir Barzilai, Einstein College of Medicine, NY
Evelyne Bischof, Jiaotong University, Shanghai
Alexey Moskalev, Longaevus Technologies
Arseniy Trukhanov, ESAAM
Valery Krizhanovsky, Weizmann Institute
Myriam Grunewald, Hebrew University
Gil Atzmon, Haifa University
Natalie Yivgi-Ohana, Minovia Therapeutics
Yaky Yanay, Pluri
Haim Cohen, Bar Ilan University
Marios Kyriazis, National Gerontology Centre Cyprus
Dmitry Kaminskiy, Deep Knowledge Group
Kunlin Jin, International Society on Aging and Disease (ISOAD)
Robert Chunhua Zhao, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Stephanie Dainow, Lifespan.io
Alexey Strygin, Gero.ai
Björn Schumacher, University of Cologne
Mario Krause, ESAAM
Fiona Miller, quadraScope Venture Fund
Yael Benvenisti, Mediterranean Tower Ventures
Jose Luis Cordeiro, The Millennium Project
Didier Coeurnelle, HEALES
Anton Kulaga, International Longevity Alliance
Omri Amirav-Drory, Renewal Bio
Jacob Hanna, Weizmann Institute
Noah Efron, STS Bar-Ilan University
Enrico Mairov, New Udai 10.0
Flavio Cabitza, Foundation for the Protection of Identity
Roberto Pili, Comunità Mondiale della Longevità
Grazia Fenu Pintori, University of Sassari
Lisa Fabiny-Kiser, SENS Research Foundation
David Izhaky, EMIT
Longevity Ecosystem in Israel IT Platform and Report, developed in collaboration between Aging Analytics Agency and VETEK (Seniority) Association, was also unveiled at the conference. The platform serves as a central hub for resources and information on Israel’s Longevity Industry and ecosystem.
Further prospects of international cooperation were discussed, in particular between research entities from Israel and Sardinia, Italy.
About VETEK
VETEK (Seniority) Association – the Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life, was founded by former Israeli Minister for Senior Citizens Rafi Eitan. The conference dates were chosen as close as possible to the Memorial Day of Rafi Eitan, and this conference was in Rafi Eitan’s Memory, as the founder of the Senior Citizen’s Movement in Israel, who made ground breaking contributions to bringing the issues of aging, including aging health, to the foreground of Israel public life. The last Vetek conference with his participation took place in October 2017, in the same building in Bar-Ilan University.
Generally, the association acts for the advancement of healthy longevity for the entire population through scientific research, technological development, medical treatment, public health and educational measures, advocacy and social activism.
VETEK has organised and co-organised several national and international conferences on biomedical ageing and Longevity research in Israel, such as the conference in Bar Ilan University in 2017, co-sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology, and the conference in Weizmann Institute of Science in 2019, co-sponsored by the US NIH National Institute on Aging. VETEK organised several competitions for research students in the field of ageing research, with dozens of applications from all the universities in Israel. It has produced continuous educational meetings and publications in scientific literature, popular press, and social media.
It has been instrumental for including the subject of “Enhancing research, development and education for healthy longevity and prevention of ageing-related diseases” as a part of the Israel National Masterplan on Aging report, published by Knesset in 2019, created numerous educational materials, and organised national and international public and academic events for the advancement of the longevity field in Israel and internationally.
VETEK Association has been at the forefront of public advocacy for healthy longevity research, development and education for many years, and the success of its recent Longevity Nation conference is the latest output in a long-line of important actions to enable Israel to champion longevity industrialization across science, technology, industry and policy for the mutual benefit of its citizens and its national economy.
The recording of the entire conference (both days) https://www.youtube.com/@internationallongevityalli8533
Day 1. March 26
Day 2. March 27
Some press about the conference