In the face of crises, building an economy that lasts: Impact business models, smart currencies and bio-inspired financial architectures.
The simultaneous transformations of the global economy — unprecedented public debt, geopolitical tensions, climate change, the acceleration of artificial intelligence, the energy transition and the weakening of international cooperation — suggest that the next crisis could be more systemic than previous ones.
Rather than focusing solely on analysing its risks, this series of 4 in-depth articles proposes exploring how to build a more robust and resilient economy: understanding the laws of complex systems, designing bio-inspired economic architectures, imagining currencies capable of encouraging regulatory behaviours, and developing mission-driven businesses whose growth directly contributes to addressing the major challenges of the 21st century.
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By Thomas EGLI, Founder of the Geneva Forum, August 2026
- Article 1/4: Next financial crisis: Preparing better by approaching the 21st-century economy through the major laws of complex systems
- Article 2/4: In the face of crises, building an economy that lasts: Impact business models, smart currencies and bio-inspired financial architectures.
- Article 3/4: In the face of systemic crises, can economic resilience be programmed? Smart currencies and bio-inspired models.
- Article 4/4: Why mission-driven businesses can become the most robust companies in the face of systemic risks.
In the face of crises, building an economy that lasts: Impact business models, smart currencies and bio-inspired financial architectures.
Financial crises rarely begin where they become visible.
A company stops paying its suppliers. A fund restricts withdrawals by its investors. An insurer discovers that certain assets have become difficult to value. A government must refinance its debt just as interest rates are rising. Institutions simultaneously sell the same securities to meet margin calls. Liquidity disappears from a market considered deep. Credit contracts, investments are postponed and orders decline.
Each event initially appears local, but the crisis takes on a systemic dimension when several economic infrastructures cease to function at the same time.
Financing no longer reaches the companies that need it. Guarantees lose their credibility. Assets assumed to be liquid can no longer find buyers. Insurers reduce their coverage. Public authorities have less fiscal room for manoeuvre. International organisations and public-interest stakeholders see their resources decline just as needs increase.
At this stage, the strength of each individual organisation is no longer enough.
It is then that the quality of the architecture connecting companies, investors, banks, insurers, governments, territories and institutions becomes decisive.
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I. A crisis reveals the hidden architecture of the economy
The real economy relies on a succession of dependencies that are generally barely visible under normal conditions.
A company transforms resources, skills, energy, data and capital into goods or services. To perform this function, it depends on a bank, an insurer, suppliers, means of transport, payment systems, contracts, standards, public infrastructure and solvent customers.
These relationships form its actual economic architecture.
A company may be profitable while remaining vulnerable if each of its essential functions depends on a single channel: A single supplier, a single bank, a dominant customer, short-term financing, centralised digital infrastructure, insurance coverage that has become too expensive, a currency whose availability depends on decisions made abroad...
A crisis occurs when several of these dependencies tighten simultaneously.
In March 2020, the US Treasury market itself experienced a liquidity breakdown. Investors facing urgent cash needs sold assets that were nevertheless considered the safest and most liquid in the world. Price spreads widened. Interest rates rose at the very moment when the economy was deteriorating. The central bank had to intervene on a massive scale to restore market functioning.
In autumn 2022, the UK sovereign bond market was destabilised by margin calls imposed on investors using leveraged strategies. Forced asset sales drove prices lower, which triggered further margin calls and further sales.
These episodes remind us that a safe asset is not enough to create a safe architecture.
Stability depends on how stakeholders finance it, hold it, use it as collateral and react when it rapidly loses value.
The same observation applies to impact-driven companies. A good project, an essential mission or a growing market does not guarantee business continuity. The organisation must also have a financial structure capable of withstanding a credit contraction, an investor withdrawal or a sudden reduction in public funding.
II. No longer confusing financing with financial architecture
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