Graz University creates brain-computer interfaces strategy
A university in Austria has developed its roadmap for specialist brain-devices research under Horizon 2020.
Under the auspices of Graz University of Technology, a brain-computer interfaces (BCI) strategy has been developed for this area of research in the coming ten years for Horizon 2020. The roadmap gives a global perspective on BCI research, demonstrates potentials and challenges, and articulates the present gaps between current and future applications.
The Institute of Knowledge Discovery’s Gernot Müller-Putz, based at the Graz University and who co-ordinated the development of the research strategy, provided further details: “In specific terms, the BCI roadmap serves as an orientation guide for research-funding authorities, but also presents the research world with a qualified view about the state of affairs and BCI trends.
“We have identified some 150 companies worldwide concerned with BCI, from technology firms and the marketing sector to the aviation industry. Commercial applications in the entertainment industry are moving increasingly into the spotlight. Without them, BCIs would become unaffordable in the foreseeable future. Our Horizon 2020 roadmap sketches a path to the actual, affordable and user-friendly application of BCIs.”
In the year 2025, there is expected to be a broad range of brain-controlled applications which, according to the BCI roadmap, will be standard in medical treatment and therapy and also in monitoring personal health. Apart from brain signals, there will also be other bio-signals, like heartbeat or the electrical conductivity of the skin, which will play a role in the seamless and intuitive connection between man and machine.
The roadmap forms part of a project entitled ‘BNCI Horizon 2020’, which received funding from the Seventh Framework Programme. You can read the roadmap in full here.
