NIH BRAIN Initiative Reports

The Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®, aims to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain by accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies. The NIHBRAIN Initiative’s roadmap has been outlined in the landmark strategic plan, the BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision report and the subsequent BRAIN 2.0 companion reports—“The BRAIN Initiative® 2.0: From Cells to Circuits, Toward Cures” and “The BRAIN Initiative® and Neuroethics: Enabling and Enhancing Neuroscience Advances for Society.”

These documents have set the foundation for the Initiative’s goals, priorities, and scientific vision.

The BRAIN Initiative continues to build on these plans by supporting innovative and forward-thinking research projects. Explore the BRAIN Initiative’s roadmap for the advancement of brain and nervous system research through its various reports, calls for input as noted below, strategic plans, and areas of research.

Goals of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director’s BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 and Neuroethics Subgroup

The BRAIN Initiative was announced in April 2013 and called for a bold and ambitious 10-year effort to accelerate the development and use of tools to improve our fundamental understanding of how the human brain and nervous system function in health and disease.

The Initiative’s strategic plan was initially outlined by a working group of the Advisory Committee to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director, known as ACD. In 2014, after incorporating input from several public workshops, the working group published the BRAIN 2025 report, a scientific vision that coalesced support for the BRAIN Initiative across the neuroscience community.

As the NIH BRAIN Initiative approached its halfway point, the ACD BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 was asked to assess the BRAIN Initiative’s progress and advances within the context of the original BRAIN 2025 report, identify key opportunities to apply new and emerging tools to revolutionize our understanding of brain circuits, and designate valuable areas of continued technology development. To read the official charge to the group and to view the roster, please visit the official ACD BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 page. 

Alongside, the BRAIN Neuroethics Subgroup was tasked with considering the ethical implications of ongoing research and forecasting what the future of the BRAIN Initiative’s advancements might entail, crafting a neuroethics "roadmap" for the Initiative. To read the official charge to the group and to view the roster, please visit the official ACD BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 Neuroethics Subgroup page.

Public Input and the BRAIN Initiative’s Strategic Plan  

The ACD BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 gathered public input to assess the neuroscience landscape broadly to help inform strategic guidance for the second half of the BRAIN Initiative. 

A town hall was held during the 4th annual BRAIN Initiative Meeting to introduce the members of the working group to the BRAIN Initiative community and to open a discussion on how to build upon the BRAIN 2025 framework as we enter the second half of the Initiative.

Subsequently, both the BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 and the BRAIN Neuroethics Subgroup conducted portfolio reviews on the BRAIN Initiative, referencing the BRAIN 2025 strategic plan. Additional workshops and town halls were held, leading to the release of draft reports in the spring of 2019.

The ACD BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 and BRAIN Neuroethics Subgroup requested public input on their respective draft reports through a Request for Information (NOT-NS-19-041), before revising their findings as appropriate. The findings and analysis from the public comment period were presented to the ACD, for consideration at their public meeting on June 14, 2019. Following ACD feedback, the groups worked on the documents before presenting again at a public teleconference on October 21, 2019, at which point the ACD endorsed the BRAIN 2.0 companion reports (BRAIN Initiative 2.0 report and Neuroethics Roadmap report). Former NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins accepted the ACD endorsed reports and the NIH BRAIN Initiative continues to carefully consider how to integrate both sets of findings in future BRAIN Initiative priorities and investments.

Workshops

The ACD BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 and BRAIN Neuroethics Subgroup held a series of public workshops and events to solicit input and expert consultations from leaders in the field, as well as to hear from stakeholders in the scientific community and the general public.

Videocasts and other materials from these workshops are available below.

Workshop Details:

Friday, August 24, 2018, at Harvard University in Boston, MA

Friday, September 21, 2018, at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL

Thursday, October 4, 2018, at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX

Sunday, November 4, 2018, at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego, CA

  • BRAIN Initiative Town Hall with BRAIN Initiative Alliance Networking Event
    Sunday, November 4, 2018, Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego, CA
  • Videocast

Wednesday, January 23, 2019, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Thursday, April 11, 2019, at the 5th Annual BRAIN Initiative Investigators Meeting in Washington, D.C.

  • Advisory Committee to the Director BRAIN Initiative Working Group 2.0 Town Hall
  • Videocast

Friday, June 14, 2019, at the 118th Meeting of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director

Monday, October 21, 2019, Teleconference of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director