Human Brain Project

12. Februar 2013

One of the European Commission's two new FET Flagship projects

fortiss congratulates its Director Prof. Alois Knoll and "The Human Brain Project" (HBP) for being selected as one of the European Commission's two new FET Flagship projects.

The new project will federate European efforts to address one of the greatest challenges of modern science: understanding the human brain. The total costs of the project are estimated at 1.19 billion euros. The Technische Universität München coordinates the sub-project "Neurorobotics."

Extensive knowledge about the human brain and its functioning already exists but is highly fragmented. The goal of the Human Brain Project is to pull together this knowledge and to reconstruct the brain, piece by piece, in supercomputer-based models and simulations. The models offer the prospect of a new understanding of the human brain and its diseases and of completely new computing and robotic technologies.

Neurorobotics - A First Feasibility Test

The research group of Prof. Knoll will coordinate the part of the project focusing on Neurorobotics. It is here that with simulated and real systems the feasibility of the conceptual models will first be tested. The systems consist of sensors for data acquisition, data-processing elements, and actuators to carry out operations. The Neurorobotics sub-project builds on the internationally recognized expertise in robotics research at the Technische Universität München and will partly reside at the TUM-affiliated institute fortiss. "That we, with our partners in the Human Brain Project, could prevail in such a hard international competition is a clear affirmation of our strategy of cross-linking and integrating scientific disciplines," says TUM President Wolfgang A. Herrmann.

A Worldwide Brain Research Network

Federating more than 80 European and international research institutions and some important North American and Japanese partners, the Human Brain Project is planned to last ten years (2013-2023). The cost is estimated at 1.19 billion euros. It will be coordinated at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, by neuroscientist Henry Markram. In the coming months, the partners will negotiate a detailed agreement with the European Community for the initial first two and a half year ramp-up phase. The project will begin work in the closing months of 2013.