Alik WidgeNeural Engineer | Brain Stimulation Psychiatrist | Cognitive Neuroscientist

Dr. Alik Widge and The BRAIN Initiative®

Name: Dr. Alik Widge and The BRAIN Initiative®
Uploaded: 2021-07-28T13:05:32+00:00
Duration: 1 min 1 s
Channel: Alik Widge
Description: In this segment, Dr. Alik Widge explains that the BRAIN Initiative’s distinctive funding model was essential for creating broadly useful neuroscience…

28 Jul 2021 · 1 min

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In this segment, Dr. Alik Widge explains that the BRAIN Initiative’s distinctive funding model was essential for creating broadly useful neuroscience tools. Traditional science funding focuses on narrow hypotheses and specific systems, which does not support the development of versatile tools that can be applied across many studies. The BRAIN Initiative not only provided the financial resources but also an organizational structure that includes extensive public outreach, such as the BRAIN Initiative Alliance website, which promotes the tools, encourages community use, and funds continued improvement. Without this combination of flexible funding and outreach infrastructure, the tool-building effort described would not have been possible.

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We really would not have been able to do this without the BRAIN Initiative and the unique kinds of funding that makes possible, for two reasons. One, just tool building in general is not something that traditional science funding goes after. They want to know what's your narrow hypothesis, what's the system you're going to study it in, what's the answer going to be. And if you say, "Well, actually, I just want to make something that you can study 300 hypotheses with and give it to someone else," it doesn't fit in the traditional funding mechanisms. Only BRAIN would have created that. And the second thing is that the BRAIN Initiative has come with a ton of public outreach efforts. It's come with things like the BRAIN Initiative Alliance website that has helped us get the word out to people that we built something, we want you to use it, we're actually being paid to make it better and easier for you to use. So again, without the unique— not just the money, but the organizational structure of this initiative, none of this would have happened. Thank you.