Like many people, when I first became aware of the longevity movement, the digital content landscape was filled with stories about the “tech bros” and what they were doing to extend their lives and even “never die.”
While they helped to propel the longevity conversation into the global zeitgeist, something that is now an exciting reality, the conversation has widened to include leaders from all aspects of business, medicine, academia, nonprofits and government. Longevity is taking on a much broader meaning across the world.
But long before the Silicon Valley crowd and other new players embarked on the quest for their extended life journey, there were many O.G.’s in the movement who had been working on longevity centric solutions for decades. Individuals like Laura Carstensen, PhD., who founded the Stanford Center on Longevity in 2007, Dr. Linda Fried, former Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and Paul Irving, former President; Chairman, Center for the Future of Aging at the Milken Institute are all examples of serious early voices in the movement.
Others followed, including Chip Conley, founder of M/E/A. Dan Buettner from the Blue Zones and many more who surfaced longevity topics for mainstream audiences.
What has evolved over the last several years however is an ever-expanding definition of longevity. While all that is happening in medicine is exciting (GLP-1s, metformin, precision medicine), it is now only a part of the global longevity ecosystem that is emerging.
In my new book, Longevity Nation, I spent 18 months exploring this idea and ultimately talked to over 70 “longevity innovators” who are the pioneers in what will become a multi-trillion industry that is focused on all aspects of living longer and healthier lives in mind, body and spirit.
As people live well into their 80’s and 90’s (if not 100) and birth rates continue to be below the 2.1 percent replacement rate in nearly 130 countries, the aging world’s population will grow, dominate and continue to look for ways to ensure that they remain healthy, engaged and have purpose.
At the recent CES show in Las Vegas, over 100 exhibitors in the health pavilion self-identified as “longevity technology” companies. From exoskeletons to robotic companions to scales that measure all of your biometrics, the future was on full display.
Higher Education institutions have pivoted into “lifelong learning” programs with post-career initiatives like the University of Chicago’s Leadership and Society Initiative that help to set individuals up for their next chapter. The Nexel Collaborative is the group that works with all of these various academic offerings in the U.S. for people in the new post-career era of longer lives.
Augmented by programs offered at M/E/A, the efforts to help people reinvent and find purpose for a long second half of life is in full swing. If you are healthy at 65, you may live another 30 or more years. What will those years look like for you in terms of health, financial well-being, purpose, community and relationships?
The travel sector has begun to develop “longevity-centric” programs that have medical, wellness and mindfulness as part of their programming. The efforts are happening at resorts like Euphoria in Greece to The Four Seasons, Singapore’s Chi Longevity center to new destinations like The Estate that will launch in Los Angeles this year.
This runs parallel to the emergence of Longevity Clinics, where there is an estimated 1,000 or more around the world already. A destination like Longevity + in Warsaw, Poland, which is a science and evidence-based destination for health is one that is the gold standard in this new disruptive approach to longevity medicine.
Throughout the world, urban planners, architects and government officials are working on getting their towns and cities “age friendly”, as they see the trends that are unfolding.
The city of Newcastle upon Tyne created the City of Longevity Initiative and Japan’s effort in the city of Fujisawa that established tech-enabled homes and robotic assistance are only two examples. The World Health Organization has created a Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, a digital platform that has over 1,600 cities engaged on their site to guide them on how to think about infrastructure, architecture and everyday design elements to accommodate citizens of the new longevity.
In places around the world, new kinds of living and housing are already taking shape. Mirabella at Arizona State University is a great example. A modern, tech-enabled building right on campus gives the 50 plus year old owner complete access to all of the University’s facilities, events and many classes. The organic intergenerational model avoids the “ghettoization” that many 55+ communities create, redefining a better way to live with people of all ages.
The list of other dimensions of the emerging longevity industry goes on. From new solutions for better sleep, skin longevity technologies and the recognition that new forms of engagement like creative endeavors are in fact longevity hacks are just a part of what is happening at a rapid pace.
We are living in an incredible time where we are beginning to realize that longevity has many definitions and many opportunities. All the players in this global effort are creating what we now call a longevity nation of ideas, products and services that will help to enable better and healthier longer lives.
The most important element of all of this exciting growth however, is that we have to ensure that what is discovered and developed is not just for the wealthy or the elite but is democratized and available to everyone. Those who create that possibility will be the longevity innovators who will be recognized as the true global leaders in the efforts.
-Michael
Michael Clinton is the Founder & CEO of ROAR forward, a business intelligence platform for the New Longevity. He is also a writer for esquire, men’s health, OprahDaily, and is the author of ROAR into the second half of your life. His newest book, Longevity Nation, will be published in May 2026.