Implantable Brain Computer Interface Collaborative Community (iBCI-CC)

The Dana Foundation supports the establishment of the Implantable Brain Computer Interface Collaborative Community (iBCI-CC). A Collaborative Community is an FDA-recognized continuing forum convened independently by private and public sector stakeholders to tackle medical device challenges with broad impacts, producing deliverables to achieve shared objectives. Currently, no neuroscience-related Collaborative Communities exist. The iBCI-CC fosters cross-sector collaboration among a comprehensive set of BCI stakeholders, including people experiencing neurological injury or disease, researchers, clinicians, medical device companies, patient advocacy groups, ethicists, regulators, payers, federal agencies, and research support organizations. 

This grant supports the launch of the iBCI-CC, beginning with formally recruiting founding community members and obtaining FDA recognition as an official Collaborative Community. The grant also supports a meeting to collaboratively identify specific challenges of priority importance to participants—such as regulation, public messaging, ethical issues, or BCI end-user preferences—and to establish diverse working groups around each topic to begin addressing these challenges. 

This project aligns with the Dana Frontiers objective to pilot innovative multidirectional engagement opportunities to embed community perspectives in research, policy, and decision-making.