Now in its third season, the SIP Brain Health Innovation Olympics has proven to be a highly effective and ambitious effort to spark fresh and powerful new approaches to improving brain health around the world.
The Olympics is a highly visible component of Social Impact Partners’ Global Brain Health and Longevity Initiative, an effort to capitalize on a growing global focus on brain health and its profound importance. And the Olympics – like its namesake — is very much a global program. SIP’s Brain Health Innovation Olympics represents more than a competition; it is a beacon of rapid, action-oriented collaboration, dismantling traditional barriers to foster large-scale transformation.
This season’s five student teams represented the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines, the Welingkar Institute of Management in India, the University of Calgary in Canada, Arizona State University in the United States and a joint squad featuring both INSEAD in France and Columbia University in the U.S.
For Argentum member Pietro Ferraro, global growth officer for Sodexo’s Healthcare and Seniors division, participating in the past three seasons of this program has proven to be invaluable.
“The insights our team and organization gained from this program were a powerful perspective from today’s youth leaders,” Ferraro said. “Sodexo will continue to incorporate brain health into our global strategy as we partner with SIP to bring innovation and impact to this critical topic that impacts each employee, consumer and person.”
The student participants work together alongside experienced mentors to refine new concepts and, eventually, business plans to propel innovation that leads to meaningful brain health impact. Biweekly presentations allow for opportunities for feedback from judges so that the teams can refine and strengthen their projects along the way.
At the conclusion of the event, students earn a consulting certificate and awarded plans earn cash prizes. More importantly, though, the Olympics serve as a catalyst for making students’ ideas a reality. The students range from undergraduate to graduate students with rich professional backgrounds and a desire to create impact. Since the program’s inception, students have launched companies, corporate organizations have shifted strategy, and judges have benefited from the bountiful talent pool they interact with throughout the series.
No matter the path, the hope is that the concepts developed through the program will inspire the creation of new ventures that will revolutionize the landscape of brain health research, awareness and true action.
Developing promising partnerships
Sarah Hoit, co-founder and chairman of Social Impact Partners, emphasized that the Olympics is not simply a business plan competition.
“It’s a global consulting project to find what the best ideas are to embrace brain health in the places that we live, work and age,” Hoit said. “And then to say, ‘What are we going to do about it?’”
One of those action-takers is the chief operating officer of Avanti Senior Living, Lori Alford. Alford worked intimately with numerous teams to advise and share her personal and professional challenges in brain health. As a second-year judge, Alford is actively working with one of this season’s teams to implement a pilot of their business concept in her senior living communities in 2025.
Allison Bonner, senior director of operations and giving for SIP, said the Olympics are a uniquely powerful way for students and judges to forge connections and possibly team together to pursue exciting new projects – matching the students’ deft new ideas with the judges’ experiences, insights and resources.
“It’s why these judges are so valuable to this,” Bonner said. “They are active mentors who get to advise and learn from the student teams themselves. It’s inspiring to see Argentum members and other industry leaders step up and support finding solutions to improve the lives of our seniors.”
James Balda, president and CEO of Argentum, serves as an Olympics judge.
“Argentum is proud to partner with SIP as we work toward advancing quality of life and care for seniors,” he said. “With aging diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, it is important that we go deeper to develop innovative solutions to help prevent and be proactive, so that seniors can age with grace and dignity.”
‘Learning to innovate is no longer optional’
This year’s Brain Health Innovation Health Olympics focused on the areas of “Food-Centered Health” and “Nutrition and the Brain” and the opportunities that each offered to create meaningful change. With that in mind, the challenge question for this group of competitors was: “How can corporations — such as food, retail, technology and service companies — use their platforms to promote healthy aging and brain health in the places where we work, live, study and age (e.g., universities, companies, senior living)? Additionally, what solutions, innovations and new product ideas are currently missing and need to be introduced into the marketplace?”
In addressing the question, students were directed to consider the impact of collaboration between for-profit, nonprofit, corporate and government entities; the importance of health equity; and the role that AI, epigenetics and other technologies can play in enabling these solutions.
The student teams’ projects encompassed a variety of areas, such as AI and robotics, the arts, health care, family connections, children’s education, and intergenerational engagement.
Tinotenda Heather, a member of the Arizona State team, said her team strived to create novel solutions “that were deeply personal to us” during the marathon event. The team’s projects centered on the use of musical therapy and the visual arts in senior living.
“We are only just beginning to understand the true psychological effects of social media on our lives, and the wealth of having a healthy brain,” Heather said. “Across the world, the price of ‘connection’ has often become disconnection across all generations. Community and meaningful connections are the cure for the loneliness epidemic, especially as we navigate the aging journey together. With mental illness often surfacing by age 24, brain health clearly spans a wide spectrum, and we believe that fostering meaningful, cross-generational connections is key to creating purpose and a sense of belonging, no matter the age group.”
Shauna Thome, a member of the Calgary team who works in health care, said she was drawn to the Olympics because she sees how her industry grows more complex and uncertain every day.
“Learning to innovate is no longer optional – it’s essential,” Thome said. “Through this experience, I’ve come to realize just how foundational brain health is to our overall well-being. It all starts with the brain — when we proactively care for our brain, we unlock the potential to care for our entire body and our whole being. This journey has been one of the most transformative in both my academic life and my 25-year career in health care. Solving brain health isn’t just about health — it’s about unlocking a healthier, more connected and thriving world.”
‘Stunning’ work that is focused on taking action
During the students’ final presentations on Nov. 15, the impressive quality of their ideas and plans frequently inspired lavish praise from judges. Following each presentation, a mix of the judges shared their thoughts on the presentations and the ideas within them, raising new angles to consider and offering suggestions.
During the call, Hoit marveled at the quality of the students’ work.
“The time that we’ve had together over the last eight weeks, the excitement, the innovation, the collaboration, the thinking out of the box, the opportunity to really change things for brain health globally has just been stunning,” Hoit said. “I am moved, I am lifted up, and I am certain that all of the ideas that we talk about today and from the 100 idea fragments that have gone into these final presentations are all really, really actionable.”
Sanjeev Shetty, CEO of HelloGard Robotics and vCare Companion, said that the students’ research often identifies and builds on emerging trends in an illuminating way that brings an invaluable fresh perspective to the field.
“It’s invigorating to see this generation’s passion for technology and AI, especially as we work to integrate solutions like robotics into long-term care,” Shetty said.
In light of the projects that are in the works tied to the Olympics, Hoit said “there is real stuff happening now that could affect hundreds of millions of people” – and there is more to come.
“We want to engage a younger generation and get them excited about the opportunity to be change agents, but then it’s also essential to take all these major corporations and scientists and nonprofits and have a space where people can collaborate, innovate and invest in this change,” Hoit said. “We’re trying to take action. This is not about discussing the fact that there’s a big problem. It’s about who’s brave enough to change what they’re doing and come together and innovate and move the ball forward.”
This season’s Awards and Closing Ceremony will take place virtually on Thursday, November 21. Argentum members are invited to attend and observe the culmination of this season’s program on from 11 a.m. to noon EST on Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86299058688. If you want to learn more and get involved in upcoming seasons, contact Allison Bonner at [email protected].
