Riyadh summit launches $101m prize in race to discover healthy aging

Teams from around the world will compete in a seven-year global race to uncover the secrets to healthier aging as part of a $101 million prize announced in Riyadh.

The Global Healthspan Summit on Wednesday announced the competition, which is led by the Hevolution Foundation, a nonprofit, and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis’ XPRIZE Foundation.

Established by royal decree in 2018 and led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Hevolution officially launched operations in 2021.

The competition will see teams presenting creative and radical solutions to extending human healthspan, while adhering to national regulations.

Data shows that healthspan — the number of years a person lives in good health — has decreased globally, even while lifespans have increased.

The number of people over 60 is expected to double to 2 billion by 2050.

Diamandis said: “The competition window is set to open in approximately three and a half years, and the team can tell us ‘we’re ready’ to compete and they’ll submit data to our judging committee that will evaluate if it’s a serious effort.

“One of the things that XPRIZE does well and I’m very proud of is we level the playing field … it doesn’t matter what country you come from, it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve raised … we are allowing big and small players to compete on an equal playing field.”

Hevolution CEO Mehmood Khan and Diamandis are expecting a large number of proposals and the collaboration of international experts.

Hevolution aims to build an environment that fosters increased collaboration to find a solution for extending healthspan.

Khan said: “Traditional funding models are very averse to funding what seem like crazy ideas and this has happened in medicine so often.”

Through collaborative efforts, Khan said that his organization’s main vision is “to expand healthy lifespan for the benefit of all.”

He added: “What we mean is it’s not about lifespan for the sake of living longer. Very few people I have ever met want to live longer at the expense of health. People want to live healthy as long as possible. This is a fundamental desire of every living human being.

“That is a part of what we see … we are not investing, supporting, and accelerating in this field for the benefit of a very few people, not for the privileged.

“Our goal is to make available everything in the results of our investments to as many people as possible. We think every day about democratizing the discoveries and science and innovations that we helped accelerate … how do they get in the hands of as many people around the world as possible?”

The Global Healthspan Summit 2023, hosted by Hevolution, is bringing together more than 100 scientists, policymakers, business leaders and innovators from around the world.