Abstract The HBP Report (human Brain Project) , Europa

http://www.humanbrainproject.eu/
 new brain-like computing

technologies.

Abstract

Understanding the human brain is one of the greatest

challenges facing 21st century science. If we can rise to the

challenge, we can gain fundamental insights into what it

means to be human, develop new treatments for brain diseases

and build revolutionary new Information and Communications 

Technologies (ICT). In this report, we argue that the convergence between ICT and biology has reached a point at which it can turn this dream into reality. It was this realisation 

that motivated the authors to launch the Human Brain Project– Preparatory Study (HBP-PS) – a one-year EU-funded

Coordinating Action in which nearly three hundred experts in neuroscience, medicine and computing came together to

develop a new “ICT-accelerated” vision for brain research and

its applications. Here, we present the conclusions of our work.
We find that the major obstacle that hinders our understanding
of the brain is the fragmentation of brain research
and the data it produces. Our most urgent need is thus a concerted
international effort that can integrate this data in a unified
picture of the brain as a single multi-level system. To reach
this goal, we propose to build on and transform emerging ICT
technologies. In neuroscience, neuroinformatics and brain simulation
can collect and integrate our experimental data, identifying
and filling gaps in our knowledge, prioritizing and
enormously increasing the value we can extract from future
experiments.In medicine, medical informatics can identify biological
signatures of brain disease, allowing diagnosis at an early
stage, before the disease has done irreversible damage, and
enabling personalised treatment, adapted to the needs of individual
patients. Better diagnosis, combined with disease
and drug simulation, can accelerate the discovery of newtreatments, speeding up and drastically lowering the cost of drug discovery. 

In computing, new techniques of interactive supercomputing,

driven by the needs of brain simulation, can impact
a vast range of industries, while devices and systems, modelled
after the brain, can overcome fundamental limits on the
energy-efficiency, reliability and programmability of current 

technologies, clearing the road for systems with brain-like

intelligence. 

The supercomputer and hardware technologies we need 

are rapidly improving their performance, following well-established

industry roadmaps. In other essential technologies,  

European academic institutions already lead the world. The 

vision we propose would leverage these strengths, driving a

radical transformation of ICT and brain research, and enabling  

European bio-tech, pharmaceutical and computing 

companies to pioneer the development of what are likely to 

become some of the largest and most dynamic sectors of the
world economy.Realising this vision and ensuring a leading role for
European companies and researchers will require a massive
long-term research effort, going far beyond what can be
achieved in a typical European research project or by any one
country. As a foundation for this effort, we propose to build
an integrated system of ICT-based research platforms, which
without resolving all open problems, would allow neuroscientists,
 medical researchers and technology developers to
dramatically accelerate the pace of their research.
Building and operating the platforms will require a
clear vision, strong, flexible leadership, long-term investment in
research and engineering, and a strategy that leverages the
diversity and strength of European research. It will
also require continuous dialogue with civil society, creating
consensus and ensuring the project has a strong grounding
in ethical standards. We estimate that the total cost would amount to
Eur 1,190 million, spread over a period of ten years. Of
this sum, Eur 643 million would come from the European
Commission, the remainder from other sources. We expect
that, as the value of the platforms becomes apparent, this
initial investment would trigger an avalanche of additional
public and industrial funding, making it possible to
perform research that goes beyond the precise limits we
have 

indicated in this report. These requirements can only be met by a project on the 

scale of a FET Flagship. In this report, therefore, we propose 

that the European Commission launches such a Flagship. We 

call it The Human Brain Project (HBP). We summarise the 

goal of the project as follows. 

The Human Brain Project should lay the technical 

foundations for a new model of ICT-based brain 

research, driving integration between data 

and knowledge from different disciplines, and 

catalysing a community effort to achieve a new 

understanding of the brain, new treatments for 

brain disease and new brain-like computing 

technologies.