Funding the Future: Unlocking the Economic and Fiscal Returns of Health Innovation

Health innovations are among the most powerful economic and fiscal investments a society can make. Yet, financing frameworks for health remain fragmented, short-term, and disconnected from the broader macroeconomic value that innovation generates.

This session brings together policymakers, experts, industry, and civil society across the health innovation ecosystem to reframe the conversation: from health spending as a budget line to health investment as a driver of productivity, fiscal sustainability, economic resilience, and environmental sustainability of healthcare systems.

Drawing on emerging evidence on the return on investment of health innovation panelists will explore concrete pathways forward. The discussion will examine how preventive care economics and early intervention strategies generate measurable fiscal multiplier effects, while disease-specific ROI models demonstrate the real-world economic impact of innovative treatments through direct healthcare savings and broader societal benefits such as improved workforce participation and decarbonization.

Panelists will also address sustainable financing mechanisms that unlock resources for local health initiatives and community-led interventions, grounded in cross-country analysis of how health innovation investments translate into long-term economic resilience and fiscal sustainability.

Together, governments, private sector, civil societies, and international organizations, philanthropies will explore how to co-design financing architectures that recognize innovation and ensure sustainable access to health solutions that drive both human and economic prosperity.