Growing a Mindful Economy
A row of white chortens with gold spires beside a whitewashed incense burner, pine boughs and firewood in the foreground

Growing a Mindful Economy

Pioneering a new economic vision, rooted in Bhutan’s living heritage

11–18 December 2026Kingdom of Bhutan

Growing a Mindful Economy (GaME) is a curated gathering convened by the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority and Fourth Sector Group Bhutan. It brings international pioneers and Bhutanese leadership together to help shape a mindful economic system in Gelephu Mindfulness City — an economy organised around the wellbeing of people, the flourishing of all life, and care for future generations.

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Bhutan and a mindful economy

Bhutan’s philosophy of Gross National Happiness invites attention to wellbeing, culture, care for the environment and good governance in the country’s development. Its experience offers a starting point for considering how economic life might serve these aspirations.

At GaME, people from Bhutan and around the world explore what this could mean for enterprise, investment and institutions. Bhutanese knowledge and experience will inform the work alongside perspectives from other contexts.

What might an economy organised for the benefit of all life look like in practice?

A for-benefit ecosystem

In a mindful economy, enterprise, investment and institutions hold benefit for people, all life, and future generations as their core purpose — embedded in how they are governed, financed and run. Financial sustainability serves that purpose and sustains it over time. GaME helps shape the conditions in which enterprise, innovation, and finance work in service of the common good.

This endeavour brings together people working in business, government, philanthropy, research and community life to consider how their roles connect and what support enterprises and institutions need to put this purpose into practice.

The rise of Gelephu Mindfulness City

Envisioned by His Majesty The King, Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) is a Special Administrative Region in southern Bhutan — a distinct jurisdiction with the authority to design its own economic, legal, and regulatory systems, guided by the nation’s fifty-plus years of development under Gross National Happiness. Through GMC, Bhutan is pioneering an economy organised around the wellbeing of people, the flourishing of all life, and care for future generations.

The gathering offers Bhutanese and international participants a shared setting to explore how their own work can contribute as the city’s institutions, enterprises and relationships take shape.

The institutional setting
Gelephu Mindfulness City and the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority provide the context for our shared inquiry.
The economic aspiration
A mindful economy attentive to the wellbeing of people, the flourishing of all life, and care for future generations.
The ecosystem endeavour
Relationships, capabilities, finance and institutional support for this economy as it takes shape.

At GaME, we hope to discover where these efforts connect and what we might take forward together.

The development of GMC

Land preparation, infrastructure work and community participation offer glimpses of the city’s development. We invite reflection on the economic relationships and institutions that could grow alongside it.

  • Two men in traditional dress carrying a long bamboo pole across a green field at the Gelephu Mindfulness City site
  • A smiling volunteer in an orange uniform holding a bamboo pole over their shoulder, with others at work on cleared ground behind
  • A man in traditional dress and red gloves digging with a hoe among tall trees
  • A large group of people in a wooded area clearing and levelling ground by hand
  • Officials and guests gathered around a wooden table under a decorated tent, looking over plans
  • A monk in maroon robes seated among stacks of gold and orange materials in a workshop, preparing offerings
  • Rows of small gold and glass stupas set out on a tray over red brocade

Why this moment

The gathering comes at a formative stage in GMC’s development. Participants join it to:

  • Contribute

    Bring your experience to new approaches to governance, enterprise, finance, and policy as they take shape at a national level.

  • Accelerate

    Support Bhutan’s emergence as a global hub for mindful investment and entrepreneurship, alongside the entrepreneurs and enterprises shaping its future.

  • Learn and share

    Exchange with leading innovators and decision-makers, drawing lessons of global relevance from Bhutan’s role as a living laboratory.

  • Participate

    Join Bhutan’s National Day celebrations, convened by His Majesty the King, at a pivotal moment in the country’s journey.

A speaker in a red gho and yellow scarf addresses a gathering from a carved wooden podium

People and institutions

Bhutanese government leaders, institutions, entrepreneurs and practitioners bring experience of the country’s development and aspirations for its future. Alongside them, a select group of leading systemic investors, philanthropic and catalytic capital stewards, and ecosystem architects bring knowledge and relationships across enterprise, investment, philanthropy, policy, and sustainable development.

Everyone approaches this work as a fellow contributor: listening, sharing experience and exploring how their efforts might advance a mindful economy in GMC and beyond.

Convened by Bhutan

Convened by Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority and Fourth Sector Group Bhutan.

Convening Partner

Event Partner

What part of building a mindful economy connects with your work and aspirations?

We look forward to gathering with you in December — to share experience and discover what we might take forward together.

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Our Aspiration

May an economy take form that exists for the benefit of all beings.

May the way we build it, provision it, serve it, and participate in it already embody the economy we seek to create.

May what grows from this undertaking benefit Bhutan, and through Bhutan, the world.