Global Brain Initiatives

Abstract

The journal Neuron recently devoted a complete issue to perspectives on global neuroscience, following announcement of an “International Brain Initiative” to align aspects of the various national brain research projects around the world.1 Since the announcement of the United States Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative in April, 2013, the United States, Canada, European Union, Japan, China, Australia, and Korea have committed more than 7 billion to accelerate brain research over the next decade. These initiatives represent opportunities for neurosurgeons to partner with basic and cognitive scientists, in order to maximize the research opportunities provided by our unique access to the human brain. The foundation of the United States BRAIN Initiative is described in the BRAIN 2025 report, which outlined seven of the highest priorities: (1) identify and provide experimental access to the different brain cell types to determine their roles in health and disease, (2) generate circuit diagrams that vary in resolution from synapses to the whole brain, (3) produce a dynamic picture of the functioning brain by developing and applying improved methods for large‐scale monitoring of neural activity, (4) link brain activity to behavior with precise interventional tools that change neural circuit dynamics, (5) produce conceptual foundations for understanding the biological basis of mental processes through development of new theoretical and data analysis tools, (6) develop innovative technologies to understand the human brain and treat its disorders and create and support integrated human brain research networks, and (7) Integrate new technological and conceptual approaches produced in Goals #1‐6 to discover how dynamic patterns of neural activity are transformed into cognition, emotion, perception, and action in health and disease.2 The BRAIN Initiative is a public–private partnership, currently supported by five federal agencies and over 20 private partners. A subset of these partners formed the BRAIN Initiative Alliance (http://www.braininitiative.org/) to serve as a central-access portal for information about the initiative. The Human Brain Project (HBP) is a multinational European initiative and one of the European Union's first two Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship projects. It was launched in October, 2013 and underwent an organizational overhaul beginning in March, 2015. The HBP's primary objective is to build a European infrastructure for brain science that applies a broad toolbox of the most advanced information and communication technologies to the challenge of decoding the human brain.3 Four sub-projects (Mouse Brain Organization, Human Brain Organization, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience, and Theoretical Neuroscience) contribute concepts, data, and tools in order to support the development of six cloud-based research platforms. Two of these platforms, a Neuroinformatics Platform and a High-Performance Analytics and Computing Platform, are delivered as IT service infrastructures. The remaining four platforms depend upon the data, software, and service infrastructure provided by the first two platforms. A Brain Simulation Platform focuses on data-driven modeling and brain simulations on all scales, a Neurorobotics Platform concentrates on connecting virtual brain models to virtual robots in simulated environments and to real robots, a Medical Informatics Platform mines clinical data to enable personalized medical applications and to inform disease models, and a Neuromorphic Computing Platform creates brain-inspired neuromorphic hardware–software prototypes. This focus on creating an information and communication technology-based research infrastructure, which will be utilized by the brain research community worldwide, is unique to the HBP. Brain Canada was founded nearly 20 yr ago, with additional commitment in 2011 to create a large Canada Brain Research Fund.4 Brain Canada's