WAI to accelerate the speed of innovation from the science to shopper

Warren Liu & Greg Macperhson have founded the Wellness Access Institute to support the US$1.5Tn global wellness industry to overcome challenges by fostering a collaborative approach to benefit the health of the human race. 

SYDNEY, Australia – 13th December 2022:  The fast-growing global health & wellness industry is now worth US$1.5 trillion and is projected to grow at a rate of 5-10% per year (Mckinsey & Company). While every company rushes to bring new products to market to take a slice of the revenue opportunity, consumers are faced with a different dilemma. What innovations or brands can they trust? Which products are genuinely backed by science-based evidence and real-world proof? What actions can they take now to support their long term health and wellness?  And how can they get a hold of the latest cutting edge research and solutions sooner?

Wellness Access Institute (WAI) aims to position itself as the leading authority and innovation accelerator in the wellness industry. Established in June 2022 by Greg Macpherson and Warren Liu, WAI (Pronounced ‘why’) aims to address the industry's biggest problems. Whether it's predicting the future of the industry, educating consumers on the science, addressing the trust deficit or tackling issues with supply chain quality and speed to market for products.

WAI’s goal is to establish an independent non-for-profit industry body to serve the broader industry. Warren Liu, Co-Founder of WAI says “WAI aims to enforce, advance and advocate the wellness movement to benefit the health of the human race. The idea came to me and my co-founder Greg given our work together on launching the SRW Cellular Health brand. We realised a number of issues in bringing genuine innovation to market with 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”. 

Ahead of the launch today, Warren and Greg have been able to establish an initial advisory board featuring some of the best minds from across the industry. “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” says Greg Macpherson, Co-Founder of WAI. “Along with solving some of the key industry issues; this advisory board will work on their collective 2030 vision for wellness and support with the latest scientific research”. 

The wellness advisory board features 8 prominent individuals: 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 around the world. The initial team brings with them a network of thousands of potential collaborators across the globe. 

Warren 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.

The WAI accelerator program will also be a critical ignition tool for change. The industry is known for its red tape and often our best scientists take years to bring the latest innovations to people who need them, let alone in a way that is accessible and affordable. 

WAI will drive impact in the following ways;

1. Trust and transparency - How can we create a stronger link between science and the shopper? How might we build enough transparency in the supply chain to the same effect of the ‘farm to table’ movement? How can we make data superfluid, open and accessible to all. Organised around solving common challenges and opportunities.
2. Speed and Access to the latest innovations - We are laser focused on improving the speed of innovation. We want to reduce the red tape and obstacles and help get the latest clinically proven science into the hands of everyday people faster. And at a price they can afford, in a way that's convenient to them.
3. Education and Policy Advocacy - 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 consistently fail to act. We will rank Governments on their approach to population wellness and advocate for best practice policy adoption. 
4. More sustainable and ethical practices - From the quality of the science behind solutions to the way products are sold. We hope to build trust by developing a set of standards and certifications that business and brands can apply for. This will guarantee ‘the proof’ of ingredients, research, provenance, sustainability, etc…
5. We will raise awareness. Just like the WEF (World Economic Forum) we want to produce high quality through leadership content with a focus on modern media, video, cultural and social channels.

About Wellness Access Institute 

Wellness Access Institute (WAI, pronounced ‘why’) is a non-for-profit organisation that aims to position itself as the leading authority and innovation accelerator in the wellness industry. Established in June 2022 by Greg Macpherson and Warren Liu, WAI aims to solve some of the industry's biggest problems. Whether it's predicting the future of the industry, educating consumers on the science, addressing the trust deficit created by untrustworthy sellers (citizen scientists) or tackling issues with supply chain quality and speed to market for products.

Full list of WAI Advisory Board members: Aubry Levitt, Dr Andrew Clark, Dr Matt Yousefzadeh, Michael Henain, Aki Ueda, Dr Ross Walker and Dr Albert Dashi. 

For more information please visit https://wai.institute/ or follow via Linkedin or instagram.