$1m award launched for brain research breakthrough

B.R.A.I.N. Prize will be awarded for significant breakthrough in brain research with global implications, The Jerusalem Post reported.


“If we could crack the secrets of the brain, which is the most amazing biological computer, we could revolutionize every aspect of human life,” Dr. Rafi Gidron, the founder and chairman of Israel Brain Technologies, said on Wednesday.

Gidron was speaking at the opening of the High Tech Industry Association’s international conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center to an audience that included Israel’s leading innovators and many from abroad, some of whom were visiting Israel for the first time.

The occasion was used to launch the B.R.A.I.N. Prize (Breakthrough Research And Innovation in Neurotechnology), a $1 million prize to be awarded to any team or individual whose sufficiently significant breakthrough in brain research with global implications. The vision for the B.R.A.I.N. Prize, was that of President Shimon Peres who imagined the effects on human life and on the planet if the secrets of the brain were unlocked, Gidron acknowledged.

The processing power of the human brain is infinitely greater than that of any super computer, Gidron said.

“Each and every one of us has more than 70,000 complex thoughts a day.” Gidron asked his listeners to imagine what could be done if the human brain could be connected directly to machines, and proceeded to list a vast range of functions that could be put into operation simply through the power of thought.

Gidron showed a video of some of the effects of sensors implanted in the brains of a baseball star who had developed Parkinson’s disease and a motorcyclist who had become a quadriplegic is a serious traffic accident to prove his point that “brain technologies are changing our lives and the world.” He was confident that the million-dollar prize would usher in a new era of discovery in brain research.