Could Montenegro Become Europe’s First Longevity State?

This week, a picturesque seaside town in Montenegro will host a conference for over a hundred researchers, investors, and entrepreneurs specializing in aging and longevity from all over the world. The attendees are drawn not only by the country’s stunning landscape but also by its ambitions for innovation. Montenegro, a small yet forward-thinking nation, is laying a foundation to become Europe’s first longevity-oriented state – a state that implements policies to prioritize the healthy life expectancy and wellness of its citizens in the present, while also fostering innovation hubs in longevity research and technology development for the future.

Montenegro’s pro-longevity exploration is being championed by Milojko “Mickey” Spajić, leader of the country’s new Europe Now centrist party and previous Minister of Finance and Social Welfare. Spajić, at the age of 35, is a young and dynamic political star who speaks fluent Japanese, Mandarin and French after a number of years living abroad and his forward-thinking approach has captured the attention of the international community. Before entering politics, Spajić was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and later a venture capitalist at Das Capital. During that time, he participated in the cutting edge of innovation and made early investments in companies such as Bitflyer, one of Japan’s biggest crypto exchanges.

As Minister of Finance in the most recent cabinet, Spajić was resolute in implementing pro-prevention policies such as a tax on sugary drinks. And as part of his vision for Montenegro, Spajić aims to make the country a platform for innovation projects and enterprising people, attracting the best ideas and people with progressive immigration and regulatory policies. The government has already taken steps to establish itself as a blockchain hub. (Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum
ETH
, was recently granted Montenegrin citizenship). But other hubs could be established in cutting-edge industries such as AI, health tech, longevity biotechnology, biomanufacturing and synthetic biology.

There are many different policies that Montenegro can explore to establish itself as a longevity state. These include declaring aging as a disease, passing right-to-try laws, enabling recognized partner organizations to sponsor visitors for visas, and offering a fast track for employment authorization. Education initiatives could be created to promote longevity biotechnology to university students in Montenegro and its former-Yugoslavian neighbors.

According to Vitalism, an organization focused on research and establishment of longevity states, these policies could make Montenegro a magnet for talent, capital, and biotech innovation. And since aging is the root cause of most major chronic diseases, a strategy combining lifestyle interventions with efficient longevity medicine and support for aging R&D can offer enormous economic benefits.

While a shift from reactive “sick-care” to prevention has been proposed and even made partial headway in other states, it often faces high political and structural resistance. As a result, many countries continue to spend vast amounts to treat the diseases of aging in late life, only to gain patients a few low-quality years. For example, in the United States, 30% of the ~$1T Medicare budget is spent on the last year of life. By breaking from this unfortunate status quo, Montenegro has an opportunity to become a global longevity leader.

Governments around the world are acutely aware of the challenges their healthcare systems face with aging populations – for which leadership by Montenegro could provide a model for reform. Already, Montenegro operates preventatively and efficiently, spending just 5.3% of its GDP on healthcare in 2019 and yielding life expectancies that are close to those of the UK, which spends 9.7% of its GDP on healthcare.

However, Montenegro’s parliamentary democracy and coalition-based governance present a challenge to Spajić’s party. To successfully promote his program, he and his Europe Now party will likely need to form a supportive coalition with like-minded partners.

But even if they don’t win or achieve all their aims, the ideas presented should give other nations healthy food for thought. Israel recently hosted a “Longevity Nation” conference, Montana passed a progressive right to try law, and Saudi Arabia launched Hevolution Foundation to support longevity biotechnology. Perhaps these efforts are just the start of a new wave, where nations compete to outdo each other on the health and longevity of their citizens. Such competition could produce new “Silicon Valleys” for longevity, and we may all benefit from the innovations developed along the way.

Thank you to Nathan Cheng, Adam Gries and Mark Hamalainen for additional research and reporting on this article. I’m the founder of SynBioBeta and some of the companies and organization write about, including LanzaTech, are sponsors of the SynBioBeta conference. For more content, you can subscribe to my weekly newsletter and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn.