A new think tank called the Wellness Access Institute (WAI – pronounced why) has launched to help the industry address its biggest problems and drive research-based innovation.

WAI was founded by entrepreneurs Greg Macpherson and Warren Liu after they previously worked together in the preventive health field for supplement brand SRW Cellular Health.

The duo told Forbes they want to create a trusted central resource that not only helps consumers become more informed about wellness but also supports businesses that are bringing genuinely useful products to the market.

WAI also wants to help predict the future of the industry, address the trust deficit in wellness and tackle issues with supply chain quality and speed to market for products.

Its overall goal is to highlight the potential of what a more comprehensive global focus on wellness could achieve.

Main focus areas
Education and policy advocacy – The think tank feels the benefits of health and longevity programmes have never been clearer and the costs associated with not applying this knowledge have never been higher, yet governments fail to act. WAI will rank governments on their approach to population wellness and advocate for best practice policy adoption.

Speed and access to the latest innovations – WAI is keenly focused on improving the speed of innovation. It wants to reduce the red tape and obstacles and help get the latest clinically proven science into the hands of everyday people faster at a price they can afford, in a way that's convenient to them.

Trust and transparency – The team wants to investigate how to create a stronger link between science and the wellness consumer. Asking questions like: how might we build enough transparency in the supply chain to the same effect of the ‘farm to table’ movement; or how can we make data superfluid, open and accessible to all?

More sustainable and ethical practices – WAI hopes to build trust by developing standards and certifications that businesses and brands can apply for. This will guarantee the reliability of ingredients, research, provenance and sustainability.

To execute its goals, WAI will partner with researchers, scientists, influencers, entrepreneurs and data analysts.

Liu said: “WAI aims to enforce, advance and advocate the wellness movement to benefit the health of the human race.

“Greg and I realised there are a number of issues in bringing genuine innovation to market due to a lack of platforms, information and support for those that haven’t been through the process before. It's from this realisation that we had the idea to create a solution.”

WAI’s goal is to establish an independent industry body that is funded by the industry it hopes to serve.

Liu and Macpherson are supported by an advisory board made up of eight specialists; from Aubrey Levitt the founder of microbiome startup Postbiotics Plus, to Dr Matt Yousefzadeh who has published over 30 scientific publications to Michael Heinam who has secured patent applications and contracts with leading universities and researchers in over 145 countries.

The duo claim the initial team brings with them a network of thousands of potential collaborators across the globe.

“With our advisory board, we hope to answer the what, why and how of the industry in a way that helps accelerate the wellness movement globally,” said Macpherson.

“Along with solving some of the key industry issues; this advisory board will work on a collective 2030 vision for wellness and support this with the latest scientific research.”

Liu added: “Ultimately, this diverse panel is what makes WAI different. It's no longer just businessmen and scientists trying to create new products to sell. It's an open dialogue and vision-setting agenda involving people at every stage of the journey and starts with making knowledge on the primary factors for wellness accessible to all.”