Global Wellness Connections

What we’re thinking about

HEALTH is at the heart of what GWC considers the Wellness Corridor and there is an ongoing obligation to give it due attention. A focus group is being put together to decide on next steps.

In its founding stages, GWC expects that WATER will be a target for areas of the U.S. that continue to be starved of water. Also as more cities in the Upper Midwest discover that the quality and quantity of drinking water that they have always assumed would be there is yet another problem.

How much FREIGHT is going by truck to (and even from) Chicago for international distribution? GWC is assembling the deciders — from the academic, the public and the private sectors — to examine the question and consider what alternatives there may be to improve the supply chain and transportation strategy system in the Wellness Corridor of the Upper Midwest. At GWC, we hope to come out of these sessions with a consensus on what next steps to take, which will likely require some qualitative and quantitative research.

Once the stuff of science fiction, Hyperloop TRANPORTATION projects are currently underway in North and South America, as well as in Europe, and in several states across the U.S. GWC is working to gather cross-sector support and funding for a study to examine the economic and technical feasibility of building a HYPERLOOP train from Rochester to the Twin Cities. The 21st century’s response to reducing transportation’s impact on climate change, Hyperloop is carbon-neutral, moves people and light freight at speeds up to 700mph, and can be built almost entirely underground.

Global Wellness Connections is all about Connecting the Upper Midwest’s Wellness Corridor to the World

With your help we are making connections to:

The Future of the Upper Midwest

This is a mindset leap for most of us. To think about the long range rather than tomorrow. Having lived through the worst of the pandemic and facing the consequences of climate change, we are told repeatedly that we are living with the slowest rate of change humans will ever see again. That is anxiety-producing for most people. But it is real. It is here, now. The movement of “artificial intelligence” from abstract forecasting to something real is just another early signal example of rapid change on the horizon.

Regional Competitiveness

With climate change upon us, this region — with its water, energy, healthcare, and food — looks like an oasis. Our region has advantages in healthcare and nutrition and mobility potential, but from all reports, the region is losing vital capital every year. The region is being connected to leverage resources and act on each of its advantages to preserve and build for the future.

Our Sustainability

GWC makes connections that meet the needs of the present without compromising how future generations see their own needs. What would a Wellness Corridor — a whole region of the United States — dedicated to benefit future generations of every citizen actually have to consider to be that globally recognized region?

1. Environmental sustainability. Investing in clean energy, reducing waste, and protecting natural resources — such as water people trust to drink and preserving an abundance of lakes and rivers and making a healthier environment, cleaner air and water, and a more stable climate.
2. Economic sustainability. Whatever you may think about the present economy, it certainly does not work for everyone and that is a condition likely to get worse as time passes. If we want a stronger economy that works for every willing person, we will need to act to assure a steady supply of well-paying jobs. GWC is making the connections across the private, public and academic sectors that will lead to a more stable and successful regional economy.
3. Social sustainability. The region has a good start on promoting greater equity, along with fairer access to healthcare, and a general push for healthier living. With more connections more planned intellectual collisions (conferences, round-tables, and task-forces),GWC is helping create roadmaps for the future of wellbeing and assembling the teams willing to act now to improve our social fabric and sustain it. 
4. Healthier Communities. By promoting health and wellness, GWC is helping to bring about a future that features more opportunities for physical activity, more people using the region’s outdoors, better access to food options, and fairer access to health services. GWC’s goal is for the Upper Midwest to be a beacon of health and wellness for the nation and the world and the region has the unique set of assets to do all this well.
5. Innovation. Regions of success attract others looking to be successful The Upper Midwest is attracting good minds from other places, and is becoming a constant source of new ideas and inventions able to turn itself into a sustainable Wellness Corridor.

Building Out the Wellness Corridor

What GWC Connections are Happening Now

Connect With GWC NOW to Participate

The Upper Midwest, with Minnesota leading the way, already is a Wellness Corridor. Led by companies like Cargill, General Mills, and Land O’Lakes, the heart of Minnesota is rich in food companies. In southern Minnesota and northern Iowa alone, there are some of the best soils for agriculture on the planet. And healthcare too, with the largest insurer in the country down to the smallest medical device company. And with those medical devices, we are a major center that is gradually becoming connected across the region.

So we do not need to create the Wellness Corridor – the foundations are already here. But regions everywhere are reorganizing, preparing for a different future. The tendency in this part of the country has been to stand pat on what is here and hope for the best. New generations and old are all recognizing around the need for action at the regional level to remain competitive with other ‘dedicated’ regions of the world.

As we ultimately expand this quest to local officials in all five states (Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin), we are expanding and discovering ever more assets that make this region a Wellness powerhouse.

GWC is not expecting every place to respond simultaneously. Innovation always starts with a few who challenge assumptions, who behave differently and have the courage to connect.