The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), a gathering of international wellness leaders, has announced a new location and dates for its 2021 conference. Originally to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in mid-November, it will now take place in Boston from November 30 through December 3 at the Encore Boston Harbor—a Wynn property. The 2022 Summit will be held in Tel Aviv in the fall of next year.
The Summit is a global event, and with shifting world travel restrictions, this fall’s conference will be a hybrid, offering both in-person participation (where delegates are immersed in networking and social events) and a comprehensive virtual package, providing access to all the mainstage keynotes and panels—on-demand for every time zone. Registration is now open.
All delegates will experience three days of expert keynotes and panels on the very different future for wellness as the world emerges from the pandemic. With a new era unfolding that will be defined by unprecedented intersections between health and wellness, Boston is the perfect place for the conference, according to event organizers. It’s the “brainpower city,” with a renowned health and wellness ecosystem; a powerful health innovation and investment landscape; and several renowned institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and Tufts University.
“After consulting with the GWS’s global Board of Advisors and our close partners in Israel, we made the decision to pivot to the U.S. again this year,” says Susie Ellis, GWS chair and CEO. “The 2021 Summit will explore the dramatically different and vibrant future for wellness that lies ahead after the lessons of the pandemic: an epoch where the relationship between ‘health’ and ‘wellness’ gets completely rethought, driving so much creativity and opportunity. We chose Boston, because there’s no better place to gather health and wellness leaders to rethink the place of wellness and prevention in society, medicine, technology and in the investment world—at the very highest level.”
Boston: A health, tech, innovation, research, and investment powerhouse
Boston is a hub for health and wellness entrepreneurial and research activity with more than 100 universities and colleges. It’s home to many of world’s most powerful biotech/pharma companies, including Novartis, Merck, Biogen and Pfizer. Boston also has some of the most globally respected hospital and health research organizations, from Harvard’s system (which includes Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Massachusetts General; Beth Israel Deaconess; and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the public health activism think-tank) to Tufts University Hospital System and the Leahy Clinic.
It’s the number-two place to raise venture capital in the U.S. (behind Silicon Valley) and is a hotbed of health and wellness startups, from health provider tech companies, such as Athena and Reify, to fitness innovators, such as LoseIt and Coachup, to companies tackling mental wellness, including MedRhythms and Happier.
Boston is an exciting city where the historic and modern collide: where cobblestone streets and the Freedom Trail landmarks (telling the story of American Independence) stand beside cutting-edge restaurants, trendy nightclubs and world-class museums. During the Summit, Boston will be ablaze with festive lights and special holiday events, from the Nutcracker to the Boston Pops. The Summit will announce special pre- and post-conference trips for delegates in the area soon. Massachusetts is also a very safe destination, ranking among the top five U.S. states for vaccination rates, according to the New York Times.
The Encore Boston Harbor is a $2.6 billion, 33-acre, waterfront luxury resort located just minutes from Logan International Airport. The resort, opened in 2019, features 15 restaurants and bars, massive meetings space, and a 19,000-square-foot spa.
The GWS has negotiated special room rates for delegates, and hotel booking is open.