International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF)

国际神经信息学协调机制的更广泛影响是促进神经信息学在一系列神经科学和工程领域的应用。21世纪通信科学、机器人学和人机接口的重大技术进步越来越依赖于类似于大脑使用的信息处理策略。神经信息学(数据库和建模)是连接生物医学和信息技术领域的多学科领域，这一领域的成功不仅将显著提高人们对大脑和脑启发技术的理解，还将减轻大脑疾病造成的巨大社会、经济和心理负担。它还应该大大增强一国工业和经济环境中的竞争力。这一承诺的实现构成了全球超科学的挑战。INCF最初是通过经济合作与发展组织(经合组织)建立的，现在有16个成员国，每个成员国每年都为特定国家的研究和开发支出捐款。目前的成员国是比利时、捷克、芬兰、法国、德国、印度、意大利、日本、荷兰、挪威、波兰、韩国、瑞典、瑞士、英国和美国。国家林业局秘书处于2006年在斯德哥尔摩卡罗林斯卡研究所开设。目前向国家科学基金会提出的建议涉及美国作为成员国每年缴纳的会费，以及与国家科学基金会运作有关的费用。

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.