International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF)

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The broader impact of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) is to facilitate the utilization of neuroinformatics in a spectrum of neuroscience and engineering areas. Major technological advances in communication science, robotics and machine-human interface of the 21st century are increasingly reliant on strategies of information processing that are analogous to those used by the brain. Success in neuroinformatics (data bases and modeling), the multidisciplinary field interfacing the domains of biomedicine and information technology, will not only markedly enhance the understanding of the brain and brain-inspired technology, but also reduce the enormous social, economic and psychological burdens caused by brain disorders. It should also lead to greatly enhanced competitiveness in the industrial and economic environment of a nation. Fulfillment of this promise constitutes a global megascience challenge. The INCF was initially founded through the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and has now 16 member countries that each contributes annually in relation to Research and Development expenditure in the particular nation. The current member countries are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The INCF secretariat opened in 2006 at the Karolinska institute in Stockholm. The present proposal to the National Science Foundation is related to the U.S. yearly contribution as a member country, to the costs associated with the operations of the INCF.