Participating Initiatives
The International Brain Initiative is fostering collaboration among large-scale national and regional brain initiatives, including:
Australian Brain Alliance
The Australian Brain Alliance is a consortium of more than 30 universities, research institutes, and industry partners with a common vision to transform the Australian brain research sector into one that will deliver a step-change in our understanding of the brain, and in turn will offer enduring social, health and economic outcomes for all Australians. The Australian Brain Initiative will make major advances in understanding healthy, optimal brain function, create advanced industries in neurotechnology, identify causes and develop novel treatments for debilitating brain disorders, and produce sustainable, high-impact transdisciplinary collaborations between frontline brain researchers.
Canada Brain Research Strategy
The Canada Brain Research Strategy (CBRS) represents the voices and interests of Canadian neuroscientists, stakeholders, policymakers, and funders who share a common mission of building on Canada’s strengths and current investments in neuroscience to transform neurological and mental health for Canadians. Its vision of open, collaborative, transdisciplinary and ethical brain research will drive policy as well as social, health, and economic advancement for Canada and the world. In 2020, CBRS received a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to position discoveries about the brain and mind as a national research priority.
China Brain Project
The China Brain Project is targeted at research into the neural basis of cognitive function, with additional goals of improving the diagnosis and prevention of brain diseases, and advancing information technology and artificial intelligence projects that are inspired by the brain. A 15-year project, it was proposed by the Chinese National People’s Congress in 2016.
E.U. Human Brain Project & EBRAINS
The Human Brain Project (HBP) is the largest brain science project in Europe and stands among the biggest research projects ever funded by the European Union. At the interface of neuroscience and information technology, the HBP investigates the brain and its diseases with the help of highly advanced methods from computing, neuroinformatics, and artificial intelligence, and in turn drives innovation in medicine, brain-inspired computing, and neurorobotics.
As a lasting contribution to the global science community the HBP has developed EBRAINS, an open European digital infrastructure for brain and brain-inspired research that allows scientists and technology experts to seamlessly collaborate, accelerating advancements in the fields of neuroscience, computing, and brain-related medicine.
Korea Brain Initiative
The Korea Brain Initiative was announced in 2016 and began receiving funding in 2017. The plan focuses on the development of innovative neurotechnology and reinforcement of the neuroscience ecosystem with a vision to advance brain science by enhancing local, national, and global networks.
Japan Brain/MINDS & Brain/MINDS Beyond
Brain/MINDS is elucidating the neural networks controlling higher brain functions in the marmoset, a unique experimental model, to gain new insights into healthy and diseased human brain. In parallel, Brain/MINDS Beyond translates Brain/MINDS into human neuroscience for the early detection and intervention of psychiatric and neurological disorders, with special focus on international collaboration and data sharing.
U.S. BRAIN Initiative®
The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative is aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. This picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and provide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought.