Obama Launches $100 Mn BRAIN Initiative to Beat India, China


Washington: Saying that he wanted the next job-creating discoveries to happen not in India or China, but the U.S., President Barack Obama has unveiled a $100 million initiative to unlock the "enormous mystery" of the human brain.

"I don't want the next job-creating discoveries to happen in China or India or Germany. I want them to happen right here, in the United States of America," the president said in an event in the East Room of the White House.

"And that's part of what this BRAIN Initiative is about," he said referring to the initiative, dubbed Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies.

"That's why we're pursuing other 'grand challenges' like making solar energy as cheap as coal or making electric vehicles as affordable as the ones that run on gas," Obama said.

"What if computers could respond to our thoughts? Or language barriers could come tumbling down? Or if millions of Americans were suddenly finding new jobs in these fields -- jobs we haven't even dreamt up yet because we chose to invest in this project? That is the future we are imagining. That is what we are hoping for," he said.

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Source: IANS