Four European economists will be keynote presenters at the Global Wellness Summit taking place from October 17-19 in Kitzbühel, Austria.

David Bosshart, CEO of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute; Barbara Kolm, director of the Austrian Economics Center; Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, associate professor at Oxford and co-editor of the World Happiness Report; and Thierry Malleret, co-founder of The Monthly Barometer, will analyse the key economic, geopolitical, social, technological and environmental trends now unfolding that will radically change our world, and re-write the wellness “concept” and market in the future.

“With uncertainty the new ‘certainty’ (i.e. Brexit, new waves of terrorism and political populism, lightning-fast technology and climate change), we want delegates to hear from top economic strategists who can help them see beyond the reactive short-term, and grasp the most critical changes on the horizon that will transform the world and the wellness market,” said Susie Ellis, GWS chair and CEO. “These are provocative and prescient thinkers…and I encourage delegates to fasten their seatbelts.”

Bosshart heads up the European think tank, the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute for Economic and Social Studies, which specialises in trend, economic, retail and social research. His keynote, Wellness 2030: From Old-Fashioned Industrial Romance to Data Buddhism will kick off the Summit.

Bosshart will outline massive shifts coming (and already underway) because of ever more pan-connected data, and how this explosion will usher in profound changes in everything from geographical boundaries, to the perception of wealth, to what constitutes individual and collective wellbeing, to the very concept of “reality” – requiring entirely new strategies for both individuals and businesses to thrive.

Barbara Kolm is director of the Austrian Economics Center and president of the Friedrich A. V. Hayek Institute, both international think tanks. Kolm publishes economic analyses and provides governments with expertise on budgets and structural reforms.

Her keynote will explore crucial macro-economic developments now brewing across Europe, with a special focus on how the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and pensions mean current publicly funded models will not survive. She will also explore how this coming reality will give rise to a host of new, private, entrepreneurial models and incentives for preventative health, with serious implications for the wellness industry.

Jan-Emmanuel de Neve is associate professor of economics and strategy at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford as well as co-editor of the next World Happiness Report; deputy principal investigator for the ESRC What Works Centre for Wellbeing; and a research advisor to the Gallup Organization.

De Neve’s work lies in behavioural economics and political economy, with the underlying theme being the study of human wellbeing. He will present on new ways of measuring happiness/wellbeing/wellness from an economic perspective, why this project is so important, what the real drivers of human wellbeing are, and the objective benefits of driving more subjective wellbeing in the world.

He will also explain how this new qualitative data is spurring more policymakers to put happiness and wellbeing at the centre of policy – a clear opportunity for the wellness industry.

Thierry Malleret is co-founder and primary author of The Monthly Barometer, a predictive analysis for private investors and influential decision-makers. Malleret also founded the Global Risk Network at the World Economic Forum.

His keynote will provide a crash course on the most pressing economic, social, geopolitical and environmental trends underway globally, such as the surge in wealth inequality, political populism, uncontrolled immigration, climate change and rising seas, to create a global risk/opportunity map: identifying which regions/nations face the biggest threats to their economies – and wellness and wellness travel markets – and which look to have the brightest, most stable futures.

On the evening of Summit Day 1, delegates can join an intimate, fireside “Kaffee Conversation” with Bosshart, Kolm, De Neve and Malleret for more insight on everything from how key economic trends will impact their particular market, to where the EU and Brexit is headed.