Category Archives: Neurotechnology

Picture this: Its June 11, 2046and a young designer, Vance, wakes up and puts on an earpiece called Eva. The device, a brain-computer interface (BCI) of the future, decodes neural signals in his brain. Using only his thoughts, he asks the device to report his daily notificationsand 13 new thought messages appear on his phone.

Later, at work, a barrage of notifications are announced through the earpiece until he asks all except phone calls and messages to be silenced until 11:30 a.m. Using his mind to operate an imagined desktop application called Neural Sculptor, he designs a three-dimensional animated figure, mentally narrating the creation of the eyes, ears, hair, mouth and beard.

Back at home, with Evas voice as a guide, he cooks ratatouille and makes plans with a friend. Before signing off for the evening, he reads part of a book and silently asks Eva to save inspirational passages. She tells him, Based on your serotonin levels, the most impactful quote was, You cant wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.

This scenario is pure fantasy, of course a speculative YouTube video about the future of BCIs created by the product design studio Card79. But Afshin Mehin, design director at the company, which has worked on everything from the industrial design of implantable brain-computer interfaces for Elon Musks Neuralink to futuristic wearable tech for companies like Lululemon, said its a future thats starting to come into focus.

I think the implications are super broad and expansive at this point because we have a lot of imagination about what BCIs could do, Mehin said. And I think this is a fun time to imagine whats possible.

If Mehins predictions come true, as the uses of brain-computer interfacesprogressfrom highly regulated clinical and experimental research trials for people with neuromuscular conditions such as spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cerebral palsy and brain stem stroke to public health and consumer applications, UX and UI designers will play an important role in imagining their potential uses and ethical implications.

And indeed, the results of recent research demonstrations are impressive. Last month, a team at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), led by neurosurgeon Edward Chang, used a high-density electrode array to decode words from brain activity. As reported in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the trials first participant was a 36-year-old man who experienced a stroke that left him unable to form intelligible words. With an electrode array surgically implanted in his sensorimotor cortex, an area of the brain involved in tactileperception and the planning and execution of physical movement, the man was able to form words on a computer screen at a rate of roughly 15 words per minute.

I think the implications are super broad and expansive at this point because we have a lot of imagination about what BCIs could do.

While BCIs take many forms and target different brain regions, the subdural implant Changs team used maps groups of neurons linked to muscle movements in the vocal tract. The researchers asked the participant, dubbed Bravo-1, to imagine saying 50 common words, each almost 10,000 times, according to a report in MIT Technology Review.

By training a deep learning model to detect and classify words by neural signals, the researchers could correctly identify Bravo-1s words with 47 percent accuracy. When they fed his sentences through a natural language model that predicts the probability of word sequences from their syntax and usage think auto-correct and auto-complete the accuracy rate jumped to 75 percent.

Still, for as much promise as BCIs hold for enhancing communication in people with severe paralysis, there are plenty of kinks to be worked out.

In the UCSF study, the systems performance is restricted to a highly limited vocabulary range, nowhere near the more than 170, 000 words in the English language. Plus, it took 22 hours of brain recordings in 48 sessions to produce.

I dont want to downplay it by calling it a baby step, Dean Krusienski, a professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University who has spent decades studying BCIs, said. Its a very major advance, but theres still a long way to go to achieve more natural verbal communication.

More on the Future of UX DesignCould Virtual Reality Be a Remedy for Pain?

For Facebook, which helped fund the project led by Chang, the study apparently failed to provide compelling evidence to move forward with a separate but related project:anAR/VR headset that would let users send text messages by thought dictation. In a blog post where the company expressed its goal in funding the research to determine whether a silent interface capable of typing 100 words per minute is possible, and if so, what neural signals are required itannounced it wasdiscontinuing prototype development of the headset in favor of a wrist-based product with a more conceivable path to market.

The bigger setback for Facebook, though, may be that an optical headset of the type the company envisioned for consumer use is far different than a prosthetic surgically inserted inside the brain.

Its still like listening to the stadium a block away, Cynthia Chestek, an associateprofessor who researches brain-machine interfaces at the University of Michigan, said of the former. You can tell somethings happening, but you wouldnt attempt to overhear a conversation.

When neurons fire, she explained, they create a puff of voltage. The closer a device is to the neurons, the better the data. Yet, the signal falls off [in a ratio of] one over the distance, which is a super, super steep fall off, Chestek said. The reason you can record anything at all from outside of the head is because lots of things are happening at the same time.

So what can you measure externally?

For example, from outside the scalp you can determine what side of the brain a seizure is on or tell what sleep cycle somebody is in, Chestek said.

These deductions can be instructive, but theyre a far cry from deciphering signals from individual neurons to help people type telepathically at 100 words per minute.

Its still like listening to the stadium a block away. You can tell somethings happening, but you wouldnt attempt to overhear a conversation.

On the other hand, brain implants are unlikely to take hold as a consumer option in the near future due to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and the surgical risks involved. Invasive procedures like electrocorticography, as reported in theMcGill Daily, usually involve the implantation of electrodes epidurally (under the skin), subdurally (under the scalp) or intracortically (recording within the cerebral cortex). These risks, the report notes, include infections, hemorrhage, tissue damage, personality changes and immune reactions that diminish the devices effectiveness.

Still, for neuroscientists developing BCIs and testing their potential to restore communication and mobility in people who have lost bodily movement due to paralysis or neurodegenerative disease, the field is full of promise.

A lot of really exciting stuff is happening, Chestek said. People are finding ways of recording or stimulating thousands of individual neurons. People are also figuring out how to create electrodes that are smaller than neurons so they can go into the nerves and not do damage. So everybodys excited.

As an illustration of whats possible, Krusienski pointed me to a 2012 video of Jan Scheuermann, a woman with quadriplegia, who used her mind, assisted by an implanted BCI, to control a robotic arm to raise a chocolate bar to her mouth and take a bite.

One small nibble for a woman. One giant bite for BCIs, Scheuermann said.

And after that breakthrough and similar demonstrations at universities across the country, the field has continued to advance with roughly 30 people implanted to date. Just last year, Chestek and her colleagues trained electrode-implanted monkeys to telepathically operate distinct digits of their hands a potential pathway to use BCIs to animate individuated finger movements in people with artificial hands.

Developments such as these are encouraging to Mehin. As part of San Francisco Design Week, he premiered Card79s Day in the Mind video as part of a panel discussion about the future UX of BCIs. Speaking to me by phone after the event, he said one possibility is that a BCI could serve as a home assistant that lives in the brain, giving people the capacity to do things they already do like order food or compose a memo faster and with a greater degree of privacy.

The other obvious superpower is that youre able to access data that you dont, literally, have to hold inside your head. And I think thats the one people get excited about, he said. Assuming the bandwidth is high enough, its easy to start to imagine querieslike, Whats the capital of Angola? What was our revenue last quarter? Things you can easily get back in a qualitativeway.

Mehin admits these scenarios are somewhat far off, especially if they are to be achieved non-invasively, as Facebook had imagined. But advances in machine learning applications with narrow intelligence could accelerate development. The scenario presented in the Day in the Mind video, for example when Vance mentally constructs a cartoon head was inspired by an existing Figma plug-in, GPT-3, that can create layout templates for scrollable windows, buttons and profile pictures by making inferences about a users intentions from common patterns associated with their text commands.

Assuming the bandwidth is high enough, its easy to start to imagine queries, like, Whats the capital of Angola? What was our revenue last quarter? Things you can easily get back in a qualitativeway.

Machine learning will start to pick up on your specific neural fingerprint and then be able to accommodate it, Mehin said. Its got to get faster, deciphering the nuances of how a version of a word sounds in your brain versus someone elses.

The first consumer products will likely be much less sophisticated, something resembling the flagship product of the Montreal-based company eno: noise-canceling headphones designed to improve concentration by using electroencephalography (EEGs) to track electrical brain activity. In 2016, Card79 worked on the desktop UX of the companys website, and from 2016 to 2018, they collaborated with a London-based company, Kokoon, on the design of headphones purported to enable better sleep.

The products work in much the same way: data from EEGs is fed into algorithms that infer usersmental states and generate complementary soundscapes either to sustain focus, in enos case, or to help people sleep more restfully, as Kokoon maintains its product can do.

But Chestek and Krusienski remain skeptical of the capabilities of such devices.

EEGs may be fun for video games, but even for that, it may or may not work, Chestek said. You have to do something like use the Force. Train hard enough, right? Its not nothing, but youre never going to use [EEGs] to drive a car, she said.

Yet even if the data these devices generate is relatively crude, it could present an immediate, low-risk opportunity for software companies to pursue BCI development. That UX is even part of the conversation surrounding BCIs suggests they are moving closer to reality.

Like any user experience, Mehin said, Youre going to try and create value up front and say, Okay, right out of the gate, we can get you to, say, press that cursor without having to move your armor mentally turn on a light something that gets [people] to understand how the system works and appreciate its value, even if it might not be that powerful.

More on UX Design and Machine Learning The Era of Cookie-Cutter Web Design Is Ending

Meanwhile, the design of BCIs continues to improve. Early brain implants,such as the Utah intracortical electrodearray built by Salt Lake City-based Blackrock Neurotech, Chestek told me, were limited in the strength of the neural signals they could detect. The 20 mm-wide, razor-thin chips contained about 100 metal electrode filaments sprouting from a silicon base. BrainGate, a multi-institutional U.S. research collaborative, used them in the first clinical tests of BCIs in people withparalysis andneurodegenerative diseases.

While the Utah arraycontinues to perform well, Chestek said, newer implants being developed by software companies like Neuralink contain thousands of electrodes, meaning they can sample from larger collections of the brains roughly 85 billion neurons.

Each neuron individually doesnt tell us much, Krusienski explained. We need to know whats happening in groups of neurons and interconnected networks of neurons to really decode high-level function in the brain.

The performance has gone up, Chestek said.[Even with] the original 100-channel sensor, we are much better at interpreting the signals. If somebody ever hands us 1,000 channels like Neuralink is trying to do, its going to get better by leaps and bounds.

Shrinking the size of implants is another promising area of experimental research, which could make electrocorticography surgery less invasive by minimizing the risk of damage to vascular tissue.

Each neuron individually doesnt tell us much. We need to know whats happening in groups of neurons and interconnected networks of neurons to really decode high-level function in the brain.

Theres a movement within neurotech of building smaller and smaller electric devices, Matt Angle, CEO of Paradromics, an Austin-based neurotech company, said. The brain is a network of blood vessels, almost like a loosely woven blanket. If the device is small enough under 50 micronsor about the size of a cross-section of a human hair, he told me it can be inserted in the gaps between these blood vessels with less risk of damage to surrounding brain tissue.

Moreover, recent findings in medical journals, such as those reviewed in a paper Krusienski and his colleagues published in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, have shown the potential of inserting electrodes into deeper brain structures through stereotactic guidance in essence, inserting electrodes through a small hole drilled in the skull. This technique appears to yield less trauma and better outcomes than electrocorticogramimplants, and also has the potential to reach new brain regions.

Angle is one of the people keenly interested the technologys development. His company is developing an ultra-thin, wireless BCI implant featuring four, 400-electrode modules for clinical use in patients with severe paralysis. The device, scheduled for completion by the end of the year, will be tested on sheep in early 2022, he told me, with the hope of securing FDA approval for testing in humans thereafter. In the meantime, the company unveiled what its calling the largest ever electrical recording of cortical activity, from over 30,000 electrode channels in sheep cortex.

If high-bandwidth, bi-directional devices like the ones being developed by Neuralink and Paradromics become commercially accessible, Angle said, they could provide new avenues to treat medical conditions that purely biological approaches cannot yet address. In effect, these BCIs become modems for the brain, connecting cortical structures to computers that circumvent traditional signal pathways to trigger sensory and motor responses.

Were really, really far from being able to regrow a retina or reattach an eye to the brain, Angle said. But were at a point now where we can put visual data into the visual cortex [to recreate image sensation]. Were really far away from being able to repair a spinal cord and allow a person whos quadriplegic to walk. But what we can do, right now, is put devices in the motor cortex of a patient whos paralyzed and allow them to use the signals in their motor cortex to control a mouse on a screen, to type, even, we think, to produce speech.

A Los Angeles company called Second Sight might offer a glimpse of what lies ahead. It gained approval by the FDA for the treatment of the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa with a retinal implant called Argus II. The 60-electrode device, Angle said, is being used to reconstruct a low-pixel visual display for people who experience decreased vision in low light or have limited peripheral vision. The device has been implanted in more than 350 people, according to the companys website.

All this raises some important ethical questions. Assuming BCIs can be installed safely, who will have access to these devices? Could having neural superpowers divide society into different classes? And crucially, how will users privacy be protected once their brains become quasi-data streams?

Ario Jafarzadeh, head of player experience design at Roblox,speaking to me after a panel discussion on BCIs at San Francisco Design Week where he was a guest, said that while touching on many topics, the conversation centered on the role UX designers could have in shaping BCI development.

What resonated with me, if [brain-computer interfaces] are inevitable,and we know about Black Mirror scenarios at least three episodes of the show involved BCIs it behooves the design community to get ahead of it and have this be a force of good in the world and not a dystopia, he said.

If commercial BCIs take hold, Mehin sees UX designers becoming de facto ethicists who sit between the interests of product marketing teams who wish to collect user data and consumers who wish to keep their thoughts to themselves.

What resonated with me, if [brain-computer interfaces] are inevitable ...it behooves the design community to get ahead of it and have this be a force of good in the world and not a dystopia.

In much the same way regulations in the European Union governing cookies under the General Data Protection Regulation and ePrivacy Directive required designers to surface messages letting users know how their data was being tracked, government mandates will likely dictate theprotections designers are required to build into their systems.

High visibility displays of a BCIs on or off status are one way designers might begin to build consumer trust. The speculative BCI operating system in the Day in the Mind video, for instance,would require the user to swipe up on an auxiliary phone screen display to connect to the earpiece through an encrypted neural connection. Giving the system access to onesthoughts, in other words, would necessitate a high degree of intentionality.

It shouldnt be like Chrome for your brain, Mehin said. There should be this entire level of protection thats giving you the sense that things are actually not that easy to access.

Easily accessible permissions settings could offer another layer of protection.

In the video, theres a point where the main character says, Eva, turn off all notifications until 11:30 am. And that level of control has to be built into the experience so someone, as soon as they feel overwhelmed, can either shut off the device or tune it down, Mehin said.

But to have a real impact, BCIs will need to be psychologically safe for users who dont change the default settings at all.

In the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein suggest default settings often dictate what people want. Facebook Portal, a video calling device that keepsthe microphone and camera turned off by default, acknowledges users desire for privacy, and BCIs, presumably, could be similarly gated toprevent involuntary oversharing. But consenting to show your face on camera or share your views verbally is obviously much different than letting a device mine your thoughts.

Whats more, the impact on those who dont wish to use BCIs would need to be considered. Just imagine how it might work in the context of online datingif one person has a BCI and the other doesnt.

How would you initially meet someone? Mehin asked. How would you flirt with them? At what point would you invite them into your thoughts? What would dating look like if youre not having a good date? Would you just kind of start chatting with friends in your head?

And thats only the tip of the iceberg.

Elon Musk is talking about other things like psychotherapies orpsychiatric disorders, Krusienski said. Pretty much, any neurological disorder, hes claiming theres a possibility to do this with [Neuralinks] technologyor brain-computer interface technology, in general.

If theoretically feasible, thats a long way off. Before broaching the ethical dilemmas inherent in using BCIs to manage social interactions or lay the foundation for mind-altering psychiatric treatments, Mehinbelieves UX and UI designers may be implored to address a more fundamental question: Whose needs do BCIs best serve?

To that question, Anglehas a clear answer.

Especially with respect to implants, I think we should be thinking about what we can deliver to people with severe disabilities. And, I think, people in theUI/UX domaincould have a huge impact, moving into assistive communication, Angle said. We want to build things that are seamless, or natural, for patients to use. And thats a skill set you dont necessarily find in the person whos doing the signal processing or the person who did their Ph.D. in the motor cortex. Its a skill set of people that dont normally think about neurotechnology, but should.

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Brain Implants Will Arrive Sooner Than You Think. What Does That Mean, Exactly? - Built In

KALAMAZOO, Mich., July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stryker announced today the FDA clearance of the first balloon implant for arthroscopic treatment of massive irreparable rotator cuff tears (MIRCTs)*. InSpace provides a new option for surgeons in their shoulder continuum of care that allows them to better meet the needs of their patients. This ground-breaking technology was acquired from OrthoSpace, Ltd. in 2019 and is the first of its kind in the U.S. market. The InSpace balloon implant has a long successful clinical history of over 10 years and 29,000 balloons implanted outside of the US, as well as the Level I study conducted across North America.

"Current strategies treating massive irreparable rotator cuff tears often present a challenge to surgeons and may require long and frustrating rehabilitation processes for patients," said the lead investigator in the clinical study, Dr. Nikhil Verma, M.D. "The results of the study demonstrate the InSpace balloon is a 'game-changer' and presents a shorter, less invasive option that may enable sustained, clinically meaningful improvements in shoulder function and symptoms."

The InSpace balloon implant is designed to restore the subacromial space without requiring sutures or fixation devices and has been demonstrated to improve shoulder motion and function.

"We are extremely excited about theclearance of InSpacebecause it provides anewsurgicaloptionfor surgeonsto addresstheirunmetMIRCTneedsinthe shoulder continuum of care,"said Matt Moreau, Stryker's Sports Medicine Vice President and General Manager. "We are committed to the advancement of shoulder arthroscopy, and InSpace offers a unique opportunity for us to better partner with our customers on their clinical objectives to improve patient outcomes around a very challenging pathology in the shoulder."

Learn more about the InSpace balloon implant at http://www.stryker.com/inspace

About StrykerStryker is one of the world's leading medical technology companies and, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. The company offers innovative products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes. More information is available at http://www.stryker.com.

Media contactKara RasmussenDirector, Communications and PR[emailprotected]Phone: 408 529 7512

*The InSpace subacromial tissue spacer system is indicated for the treatment of patients with massive, irreparable full-thickness torn rotator cuff tendons due to trauma or degradation with mild to moderate gleno-humeral osteoarthritis in patients greater than or equal to 65 years of age whose clinical conditions would benefit from treatment with a shorter surgical time compared to partial rotator cuff repair.

SOURCE Stryker

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Stryker announces the FDA clearance of the first biodegradable subacromial balloon spacer, filling a gap in the shoulder continuum of care -...

LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 18th Annual World Congress of the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT) will be the first major medical association to hold a large in-person convention in the state of California after the State's reopening of the economy by the honorable Governor Gavin Newsom on June 15th. The program is jointly sponsored by Saint Louis University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine providing more than 20 hours of Continuing Medical Education accreditation. Attendees must be vaccinated or have a proof of negative COVID19 tests. Face coverings are optional for fully vaccinated attendees with a proof of vaccination record but mandatory for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated attendees.

15th Annual World Congress for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (PRNewsfoto/Brain Mapping Foundation,Societ)

"We were the first medical association to shut-down the convention last year and announce the pandemic. Now, we are the first to hold an in-person and virtual (optional) convention in the state of California after its reopening", said the executive director of SBMT, Dr. Vicky Yamamoto.

The 18th Annual World Congress of SBMT will have close to 900 presenters and 10 keynotes including the Honorable Congressman Ro Khanna, Drs. Robert Hariri, Deepak Chopra, Martin Mortazavi, Andre Machado, Saleem Abdulrauf, Jason Cormier, Qin Wang, and John Adler. The convention will cover Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, brain cancers, spinal disorders, neuro-ophthalmology, neuro-optometry, neurotrauma and military medicine, neuro-psychiatric disorders, neurophysiology, neuroradiology, nanoneuroscience, AI and predictive modeling, stem cell and cellular therapeutics/immunotherapy, COVID-19 brain, virtual and augmented reality, neurovascular disorders, healthcare policy and neuro-engineering. The scientific program includes two bio-skill/cadaver labs for skull base surgery and spine surgery training.

"NASA, Department of Defense and National Lab scientists are amongst elite teams presenting at the world class scientific convention, which is also aimed at fast tracking neurotechnology and neuro-therapeutic development" said a founding chairman of the board and CEO of SBMT, Dr. Babak Kateb.

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The program is made possible by generous support of the following organizations and companies, which will be at the exhibition hall: Fulgent Genetics, Hsieh Family Foundation, Chopra Foundation, Brain Mapping Foundation, Bill and Lee Wood Charitable Trust and Foundation, Brain Technology and Innovation Park (BTIP), Celularity, Mind-Eye Institute, Applied Neuroscience Inc, Medtronic, Orthofix, Legally Mine, AiM Med Robotics, Inspectra Thermal Solutions, Novocure, Telethon France, Olympus Medical , Portola Pharmaceuticals, Cognionics, Penumbra, Stryker, Boston Scientific, Raymond James Wealth Management, Cereset, BrainScope, Globus, MiRus Med, Nextim, National Skull-Base Foundation and many other industry leaders in the field and organizations.

To register at this world class convention please visit: https://worldbrainmapping.site-ym.com/events/register.aspx?id=1524448&itemid=f524bd56-4b57-4273-b01a-9e0046a0155a

For More information about SBMT please visit:

http://www.WorldBrainMapping.Org

Media Contact: SBMT PR Team 310-500-6196 or email: Melodi Sadri melody.sadri@brainmappingfoundation.org

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California To Hold Its First Large In-Person Medical Convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center on July 8-11, 2021 - Yahoo Finance

The search and rescue drone is called Aurora and uses artificial intelligence that can find drowning people during a shipwreck and then open itself up into a life raft.

This is a robot with artificial intelligence and neurotechnology, which searches for people in the sea due to its technical vision. This is our development and our know-how, Ivan Antsev, Candidate of Technical Sciences and Executive Director of Radar MMS, told Russia Beyond.

According to Antsev, the artificial intelligence of the drone is loaded with special neurons and data that identify people among the wreckage of ships in the water. Our robot is already used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Antsev added.

Detecting objects in low visibility

At the crash site, Aurora is dropped from unmanned helicopters equipped with search locators, optical and electronic stations. The helicopter can take off and land on any unequipped sites. Additionally, it is able to detect any object, even in rain and foggy conditions.

Currently, the Radar MMS helicopter drones are used by Gazprom and Rosneft for search and rescue operations on oil and gas rigs in the open sea and for the search for new oil and gas fields on the shelf and under water.

Meanwhile, for the first time in New Jersey, a training exercise made use of manned aircraft and drones for first responder support after an emergency.

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SAR drone uses AI to rescue drowning victims - AirMed and Rescue Magazine

Latest added Facial Recognition Market research study by MarketDigits offers detailed product outlook and elaborates market review till 2027. The market Study is segmented by key regions that is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is sharping its presence and some of the key players in the study are NEC Corporation, Aware, Inc., Ayonix Corporation, Cognitec Systems GmbH , NVISO SA, Animetrics , Neurotechnology, Daon, Stereovision Imaging, Inc. , Techno Brain, Innovatrics, id3 Technologies, Thales, Idemia, Nuance Communications. The study is a perfect mix of qualitative and quantitative Market data collected and validated majorly through primary data and secondary sources.

The Facial Recognition market size is estimated to grow from USD XX Billion in 2020 to USD XX Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 17% during the forecast year from 2021 to 2027.

Get Full PDF Sample Copy of Report (Including Full TOC, List of Tables & Figures, Chart) at (AVAIL UP-TO 30% OFF) @ https://marketdigits.com/facial-recognition-market/sample

The major factors driving the growth of the facial recognition market are the growing importance of the surveillance industry, increasing investment in facial recognition technologies by the government and defense sector, and increasing technological advancement across industry verticals. However, facial occlusion and face detection error, and lack of knowledge and awareness are some of the major challenges hindering the growth of the facial recognition market.

COVID 19 Impact Analysis on Facial Recognition Market

Given the scale of the pandemic, technology will play a crucial role in addressing every facet of COVID-19. There is also a gradual increase in the number of use cases of facial recognition to surge the demand. Major applications introduced using facial recognition systems are for security assessment and identity verification. In many countries, law enforcement and organization have shifted from legacy systems to facial recognition solutions to reduce the overall spread of COVID-19. Also, the application of thermal camera checks through these systems and are being adopted by healthcare systems worldwide.

Grab Complete Details with TOC @ https://marketdigits.com/facial-recognition-market/toc

The demand for facial recognition in monitoring and tracking of peoples movement, identity verification, security measures, patient identification, adoption of facial recognition technology by Q4 2021, will be a common phenomenon among various sectors across the globe. New use cases such as biometric sign-in, public security, travel security, authorized healthcare services, eLearning platforms, and many other facial recognition systems are expected to be deployed at a large scale. These kinds of contactless verification technologies have become of prior importance amid the pandemic situation. To avoid the social distancing, scanners that involve touch and transfer bacteria and viruses, such as fingerprint scanners, are expected to lose demand in the future, which will create demand for contactless technologies, such as facial recognition, by 2021

Market Dynamics

Driver: Increasing investments in facial recognition technologies by government and defense sectors

Governments across the world have been investing a significant amount of their resources in the adoption of facial recognition technologies, among which the US and China can be considered as the leading adopters. China is considered as one of the major adopters and exporters of facial recognition tools. The government in the country adopted surveillance technologies, which is one of the main reasons for the growth of the facial recognition market in the region. Currently, the country has the most extensive public surveillance system. According to Comparitech, the number of CCTV cameras in China range from 200 million to 626 million by 2020. Facial recognition technologies have been deployed via homeland security, federal and regional law enforcement departments, and other security agencies across the globe.

This has helped solve numerous criminal investigations, thereby facilitating various departments. This has helped in the rapid identification of offenders, thus solving numerous criminal investigations. Government organizations are spending large amounts on the deployment of these solutions across different government applications, such as law enforcement, military and defense, and homeland security. The Defense Advanced Research Products Agency (DARPA), an agency of the US Department of Defense, funded the Facial Recognition Technology (FERET) evaluation from 19931997, to boost the advancement of face recognition algorithms and technologies This, in turn, has helped in evaluating the prototypes of facial recognition systems and propelled these systems from to become commercial market products.

Restraint: Difficulty in countering legal risks and eDiscovery

Facial recognition technology is used across industry verticals ranging from healthcare and retail to government and defense. Federal and police departments also use facial recognition technologies to catch suspected criminals in different cases. Even though the federal and police departments use this technology, the possibility of false matches poses a major problem in the implementation of facial recognition technologies.

For example, Bostons Logan Airport ran two separate facial recognition system tests at its security checkpoints, using volunteers posing as terrorists over a three-month period and posted disappointing results. Throughout the testing period, the systems correctly identified the volunteers 153 times and failed to identify the volunteers 96 times. The high number of false alarms can result in the arrest of innocent people that do not have any criminal records against them. The arrest of innocent individuals could further lead to them taking legal action against the concerned authorities. Hence, this also remains a major restraint in the implementation of facial recognition technology.

Opportunity: Adoption of the cloud-based facial recognition technology

The adoption of IoT is witnessing exponential growth also proves to be a prerequisite for facial recognition technologies, such as facial recognition, middleware, modeling and restructuring, and analytics. The growing cloud storage, which is expected to reach USD 65.41 billion by 2020, has provided a robust cloud-based storage platform, enabling the captured data to be stored and accessed easily from mobile devices and platforms. Cloud-based solutions reduce various upfront costs and eliminate concerns related to the maintenance of servers. Hence, cloud-based solutions are best-suited for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and organizations that find on-premises solutions expensive. The increasing adoption of cloud-based technology and IoT is a great opportunity for the growth of the facial recognition vendors, which would eliminate the barriers related to high costs.

Challenge: Lack of knowledge and awareness leading to technical challenges

Facial recognition is cutting-edge technology and has several advantages in different sectors. The technical challenges faced needing immediate attention to make the facial imaging approach robust for out-of-the-lab applications. According to the Neurodata Lab, the lack of effective data to train the algorithms is expected to impact the market growth negatively. The emotion AI technology is used to transform traditional business approaches and redefine them to enhance the organizations productivity and profit margins. However, organizations lack AI skills and understanding that can help them design algorithms for governing a facial recognition system. This is due to the complexity of neural networks and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms in the facial recognition system and the unestablished regulatory environment for AI governance. An organization should have a skilled workforce for building critical ML models. Organizations around the world are challenged by the retention and increased attrition rates of skilled employees. Hence, inadequate AI expertise and skills pose a major challenge among organizations, which might reduce in the near future.

Among vertical segment, government and defense to hold the largest market size during the forecast period

The growing number of government and defense investments in implementing facial recognition technology for various activities, such as border control and criminal identification, are driving the adoption of the facial recognition technology solutions and services. Facial recognition eases the process of identification and verification; hence it is being adopted widely for immigration at airports and attendance tracking and monitoring. The increasing technological advancements across sectors are encouraging enterprises to adopt facial recognition tools and services for easier manual processing and time-saving.

Various governments are relying on ubiquitous sensors and powerful analytics algorithms, instead of the physical presence of a human. In the war against COVID-19, several governments have implemented these new surveillance devices in healthcare, public safety, and surveillance applications. There are some major surveillance and authentication use cases of facial recognition to fight against COVID-19. Governments of all the COVID-19 affected nations have allocated special budgets to fight the epidemic. Different countries are also using digital technology to tackle the pandemic by strict monitoring with Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and using smart city services, such as smart transportation, smart parking, and smart citizen services for their citizens. People are advised to use delivery apps for essential items required. Maps are used to locate the real-time availability of essential items with confirmation from local people over the app. Digital banking transactions are also promoted to avoid touch and flow of contaminated cash.

Asia Pacific to grow with fastest growing CAGR during the forecast period

APAC includes big and developing economies, such as China, Japan, India, Singapore, and South Korea. The growing number of investments in security and surveillance, due to high criminal activities, leads to increased public awareness. Owing to these factors, the market in witnessing growth opportunities in the region.

The use of facial recognition technology is used across verticals, such as BFSI, healthcare, government, defense and places, including airports, country, and state borders. The growing number of investments in security and surveillance, due to high criminal activities, leads to increased public awareness. Owing to these factors, the market in witnessing growth opportunities in the region. For example, passengers at the Narita International Airport in Japan will be able to board flights with facial biometrics instead of a passport or boarding pass check, starting in spring, 2020.

According to the Biometric update, the facial recognition system is expected to increase convenience for travelers, including those attending the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics, for which a similar fast-matching facial recognition solution from NEC will be used for athlete screening. This varied application of facial recognition technology across various countries is driving the facial recognition market in APAC. During the COVID-19 pandamic, Countries such as South Korea and Singapore have done better than Spain and Italy. Asian countries have used technologies, which can resist the pandemic. For instance, South Korea has designed an app called Corona 100m, which alerts the users if they come within a range of 100 meters of a corona-affected person

Technology Analysis

Facial recognition is the process of detecting and identifying the identity of the individuals with the help of their face. Face recognition systems utilize images, videos or real-time footage for identification. Following are the steps of how a facial recognition system works:

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

acial recognition systems use computer algorithms to detect and select specifics or characteristics of a persons face. These characteristics could be eyes, the shape of the eyes and chin, skin texture, and others. These details are then converted into mathematical models and compared with other face characteristics collected and stored in a database. AI, ML, deep learning, and neuroscience are the major and basic technologies behind facial recognition systems.

Adjacent Markets

The adjacent markets for the facial recognition market are Emotion Detection and Recognition Market, Image Recognition Market, Voice Biometrics Market, Biometric System Market, Biometric-as-a-Service Market, Access Control Market, Video Surveillance Market, Physical Security Market, Public Safety and Security Market.

Key market players

Major vendors in the global facial recognition market include NEC Corporation (NEC) (Japan), Aware, Inc. (Aware) (US), Ayonix Corporation (Ayonix) (Japan), Cognitec Systems GmbH (Cognitec Systems) (Germany), NVISO SA (nViso) (Switzerland), Animetrics (US), Neurotechnology (Lithuania), Daon (Ireland), Stereovision Imaging, Inc. (SVI) (US), Techno Brain (Dubai), Innovatrics (Bratislava), id3 Technologies (id3) (Israel), Thales (France), Idemia (France), Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nuance) (US), BioID (Germany), Fulcrum Biometrics, LLC. (Fulcrum Biometrics) (US), TrueFace.AI (US), Amazon (US), FacePhi (Spain), Herta Security (Herta) (Spain), Kairos AR, Inc. (Kairos) (US), SightCorp Inc. (SightCorp) (The Netherlands), and Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) (US).

Thales:

Thales e-Security was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in La Defense, France. The company specializes in aerospace, defense, security, space, transportation, and cybersecurity. Thales e-Security, specializes in data encryption, tokenization, data masking, Hardware Security Model (HSM) management, key management, and digital signature. The company caters to various verticals, such as business services, CSPs, SaaS providers, connected vehicle security, education, financial services, government, healthcare, high-tech manufacturing, insurance providers, IoT, security and managed services, media and entertainment, outsourcing, retail, and pharmacies. Thales e-Security has a wide employee base with regional offices set up in more than 56 countries. The company, in April 2019, acquired Gemalto N.V., a Netherlands-based international digital security company that provides software applications and secure personal devices.

The company has a large clientele comprising both public and private sector clients from across the globe. Some of its major customers include Fujitsu, BMC Software, Delta Dental of Missouri, and McKesson.

A comprehensive analysis of the market structure along with the forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the market have been delivered through this Facial Recognition market report. The market research and analysis performed in this business report assists clients to forecast investment in an emerging market, expansion of market share or success of a new product. The market is greatly transforming because of the moves of the key players & brands including developments, product launches, joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions that in turn changes the view of the global face of industry.

Table of Contents: Facial Recognition Market

Part 01: Executive Summary

Part 02: Scope Of The Report

Part 03: Research Methodology

Part 04: Market Landscape

Part 05: Pipeline Analysis

Part 06: Market Sizing

Part 07: Five Forces Analysis

Part 08: Market Segmentation

Part 09: Customer Landscape

Part 10: Regional Landscape

Part 11: Decision Framework

Part 12: Drivers And Challenges

Part 13: Market Trends

Part 14: Vendor Landscape

Part 15: Vendor Analysis

Part 16: Appendix

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Facial Recognition Market in US Weaving Their Magic during 2021-2027 || Gemalto NV, Ayonix Face Technologies, Cognitec Systems KSU | The Sentinel...

A fine arts and design undergraduate student at the University of Alberta has been honoured at the inaugural YEG Startup Community Awards.

Eden Redman, who also graduated with a bachelors in psychology in 2018, won the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The award recognizes students for aspects including perseverance, their ability to achieve key startup milestones such as raising capital, and their businesss potential.

Redman is heavily involved in the startup community as a co-founder of NeurAlbertaTech, a neurotechnology skill-building network involved in projects like remBRAINdt, a technology that allows people to visualize their brain waves in art.

Its quite exciting, Redman said of his win. Its validation for the work Ive been putting in, lots of which has been volunteer-based over the past year and a half, pretty much since COVID-19 started.

Redman credits his background in psychology including his contributions to research in computational neuroscience, physiology, and psychiatry for his current passion for neurotechnology, a field in which technology directly interfaces with the brain. He said this passion led him to found NeurAlbertaTech in 2019.

I really like working with clinical populations people with diagnosed disorders, like neurodegenerative or psychiatric illness and with neuroimaging, he said.

After co-authoring psychology papers while doing research at the U of A, Redman said he had a desire to move away from pure theory and apply his work in practice.

Some basic research can feel somewhat disconnected from reality, he said. I [wanted] to take those findings and then actually apply them in a program thats more widely accessible [and] also teach people how to make that translation, both conceptually and then technically with programming skills.

According to Redman, NeurAlbertaTech started out as a project team, rallying around a submission for an international neurotechnology competition. As the current executive director of the group, Redman said he finds meaning and excitement in gathering as a community for more than just a single project.

To me, its just a lot more meaningful and exciting if we can gather as a community and have more than just 10 people [on a project team] which are otherwise a one-off anomaly, Redman said.

He went on to say that he wants there to be an industry around brain-computer interface (BCI)-specific neurotechnology in Edmonton and throughout Alberta. BCI means that instead of a traditional user interface, like a screen, users connect to the computer directly through their brains.

Its not a thing right now, which seems silly because we have global leaders in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as in neuroscience research, so to be able to translate that seems worthwhile, he said.

Redman said NeurAlbertaTech is now gearing up for the summer, when they will host Canadas biggest neurotechnology hackathon, a collaborative computer programming event in the BCI space.

Its going to be fun, said Redman. Ive done probably close to a dozen [hackathons when I was starting out in neurotechnology], so thats a lot of learning on your feet towards an end goal in a short amount of time.

NeurAlbertaTechs Hackathon (natHACKS) will give away over $10,000 in project funding to the top winners as well as enough brain-wave-recording electroencephalogram (EEG) hardware equipment for 20 teams and coding templates for anyone just starting out.

Redman said that beyond the winners prizes, the program should be highly rewarding for participants.

Sometimes hackathons just throw you in the deep end and if you dont have any background then youre kind of just floundering, Redman explained. Thats part of the support that NeurAlbertaTech is bringing more broadly and more specific to the hackathon.

The hackathon will also feature mentors from industry, academia, and non-profit sectors, as well as free workshops in the two weeks leading up to the event itself. Redman said as someone with no formal computing science training, he understands that fostering the opportunity to learn at events like the hackathon is really important.

I have not successfully completed any computing science course, partially because I just find them really boring, Redman said. Some of my best programmers arent in computing science either, so [our team is] really just passionate people who have that knowledge, who have taken it upon themselves to learn.

Redman is taking remBRAINdt, one of NeurAlbertaTechs international-competition-winning projects, to the for-profit sector.

RemBRAINdt allows users to create artwork with just their brains; brain-wave-recording electroencephalogram (EEG) technologies read users emotional or attentional states and translate them into strokes of colour.

[We want to] use [this technology ] in public events like conferences and conventions, explained Redman. Wed set up a booth [and] allow people to interact with EEG and Virtual Reality (VR), two fairly novel technologies, then we would give people the opportunity to take home some [of their own] artwork.

Though this is his vision, Redman shared remBRAINdt Beta wont include VR just yet.

[Were] still working on taking [the company] to market, but that is hopefully happening in August, said Redman. There will certainly be some troubleshooting there because, to my knowledge, no one else has tried to do this booth-style of neurotech commercialization.

Redman is also Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of 8-Bit Cortex, a program that creates online web-based games that can provide diagnostics and insights into a users cognitive profile. Over time, Redman said he hopes that 8-Bit Cortex can eventually inform mental health providers with a more intricate understanding of their clients.

We have a sledding game, a gamified version of an attentional task, said Redman. Were creating games in a systematic fashion that we can consistently record and individualize to the user.

Besides solidifying these companies, Redman said he is considering a graduate degree in fine arts and design, as well as doing more clinical research in the future.

I think no matter where I go, I still want a presence in Alberta, he said. [I also want to] be able to translate research into solutions that are going to help everyday people. My hope is to work in innovating in the VR and embodied cognition space to treat people with disorders like schizophrenia.

Redman explained that embodied cognition refers to the cognitive system responsible for projecting ownership onto our body.

[Embodied cognition] underpins a lot of dysfunction in those with schizophrenia and autism, he said.

While reflecting on his startup journey, Redman emphasized that its been an unforeseen joy.

[If youre just getting started], find something youre passionate about that youre good at, come up with good solutions that actually address the problem, Redman said.

Redman said passion was the biggest thing that kept him invested in his ideas until he could make them a reality. He said this energy helped him create a community around his interest that didnt exist before, a process he said has taught him a lot.

[New entrepreneurs] should be very cognizant that [they] dont have the answers, he said. Be prepared to completely change things, listen to other people, and go in with an open mind.

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U of A student wins Entrepreneur of the Year Award, gears up for hackathon - The Gateway Online

Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stryker (:SYK) announced that it will host a conference call on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 at 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time, to discuss the Company's operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 and provide an operational update. Final operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 will be released at 4:05 p.m. that day.

To participate in the conference call dial (877) 702-4565 (domestic) or (647) 689-5532 (international) and be prepared to provide conference ID number 4044998 to the operator.

A simultaneous webcast of the call will be accessible via the Company's website at http://www.stryker.com. The call will be archived on the Investor Relations page of this site.

A recording of the call will also be available from 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, until 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. To hear this recording, you may dial (800) 585-8367 (domestic) or (416) 621-4642 (international) and enter conference ID number 4044998.

Stryker is one of the worlds leading medical technology companies and, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. The company offers innovative products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes. More information is available at http://www.stryker.com.

Contacts

For investor inquiries please contact:Preston Wells, Vice President, Investor Relations at 269-385-2600 or [emailprotected]

For media inquiries please contact:Yin Becker, Vice President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at 269-385-2600 or y[emailprotected]

Excerpt from:

Stryker to host conference call on July 27, 2021 - GuruFocus.com

Face Recognition Technology market Scenario:

The Key Research Methdology involves Data Mining analysis and impact of the data variables on the market.Apart from this data models includes vendor positiong Grid,Market time analysis,Market overview and guide,company positiong grid,top to bottom share analysis and vendor analysis.

The world, millions of people worldwide were infected with COVID-19 disease, and major countries around the world have implemented foot prohibitions and work stoppage orders. Except for the medical supplies and life support products industries, most industries have been greatly impacted, and Face Recognition Technology industries have also been greatly affected.

Top Manufacturer Detail of Face Recognition Technology market -Nuance Communications,Herta Security,Crossmatch,Idemia,Ayonix,Keylemon,Daon,Cognitec Systems,Neurotechnology,IBM,Gemalto,Nviso,3M,Techno Brain,Animetrics,NEC,Facefirst Inc.

Request For Sample Report : https://marketstrides.com/request-sample/face-recognition-technology-market

Section (5 6 7): Product Type Segmentation of Face Recognition Technology market2D Facial Recognition,3D Facial Recognition

Industry Segmentation of Face Recognition Technology market Homeland Security,Criminal Investigation,ID Management,Physical Security,Intelligent Signage,Photo Indexing and Sorting,Business Intelligence,Photo Indexing and Sorting

Key pointers Covered in The Face Recognition Technology market:

Recent Market value for different regions.Market Key Vendors and Disruptors Study.Sales data for market competitors.Market shares in different regions.Market SizeMarket Standards and ChangesRecent Development for Competitors.

Check Discount For This Report: https://marketstrides.com/check-discount/face-recognition-technology-market

By Region of Face Recognition Technology market:

North America (United States and Canada and rest of North America)Europe (Germany, France, Italy and rest of Europe)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea and the rest of Asia-Pacific)LAMEA (Brazil, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the rest of LAMEA

Key features of this report are:

1.It provides valuable insights into the Global Face Recognition Technology Market.2.Provides information for the years 2021-2025. Important factors related to the market are mentioned.3.Technological advancements, government regulations, and recent developments are highlighted.4.Advertising and marketing strategies, market trends, and analysis are studied in Face Recognition Technology market report.5.Growth analysis and predictions until the year 2025.

Full Report:https://marketstrides.com/report/face-recognition-technology-market

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Market Strides is a Global aggregator and publisher of Market intelligence research reports, equity reports, database directories, and economic reports. Our repository is diverse, spanning virtually every industrial sector and even more every category and sub-category within the industry. Our market research reports provide market sizing analysis, insights on promising industry segments, competition, future outlook and growth drivers in the space. The company is engaged in data analytic and aids clients in due-diligence, product expansion, plant setup, acquisition intelligence to all the other gamut of objectives through our research focus.

Our pre-onboarding strategy for publishers is perhaps, what makes us stand out in the market space. Publishers & their market research reports are meticulously validated by our in-house panel of consultants, prior to a feature on our website. These in-house panel of consultants are also in charge of ensuring that our website features the most updated reports only.

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Global Face Recognition Technology Market : Industry Perspective, COVID-19 Impact Analysis, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2027 KSU | The...

Rachel Shelley, head of medical technologies, IDA Ireland, explains why medtech is well placed to lead in lights-out manufacturing, and how companies in Ireland are being helped towards this.

With the way we work in offices to factory floors having changed so rapidly in the wake of the global pandemic, digitisation is coming to the forefront as a solution to some of the challenges posed by a highly contagious virus. It offers safer, remote working for employees yet also faster, more efficient, agile and intelligent working for companies. So, it is clear to see why Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing is on the rise, and medtech has great opportunity to lead the way.

Like many areas of digitisation, the speed of transformation pre-pandemic has, for many companies, become much faster since the COVID-19 pandemic began. According to a2020 McKinsey report, as companies reimagine operations for the next normal manufacturers are now reconfiguring their supply chains and their production lines to future-proof processes.

Medtech companies are already making headway, harnessing its benefits of technologies such as robotics, automation, cloud computing, AI, machine learning and advanced enterprise software. Medtech has been an early mover towards automation because of its impact on driving productivity, particularly in a discrete manufacturing environment through better connecting systems and technologies.

For a good example look no further that Stryker, with the largest medtech additive manufacturing centre in the world in Cork. The company announced it is investing more than 200 million at research and development across three of its Cork facilities. The funding is part of the companys drive to develop next-generation products and services across its surgical, orthopaedics and neurotechnology and spine units.

DePuy Synthes is also taking strides in Industry 4.0 with its facility at Ringaskiddy, County Cork, which produces replacement hip and knee joints. This, and a sister Janssen plant in Cork have both been named by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as global lighthouses for embeddinginternet of things (IoT) into modern production.Lighthouses are selected from a survey of global manufacturing sites based on a successful track record of implementing Industry 4.0 technologies.

DePuy Synthes CorkusedIoTtechnology to create digital representations of physical assets leading to advanced machine insights, resulting in lower operating costs and a reduction in machine downtime.Janssens Cork site has digitally connected research and development, its internal and external manufacturing, and deployed advanced process control solutions to drive near real-time visibility of supply chain status. This has improved reliability by 50%, and accelerated technology transfers while reducing costs by 20%.

Data, analytics and intelligence are fundamental to manufacture

Greater intelligence and analytics from automated factories provide insight into machine health and productivity as well as operator issues, leading to more efficient working. Furthermore, when sensors and advanced analytics are combined with wearable devices it is possible to determine how those devices are being used in the real world. This offers enormous potential to improve the supply chain, enhance patient care and deliver on the increased demand for personalised care.

Ireland provides innovative support to boost Industry 4.0 production

When it comes to adopting Industry 4.0, Ireland is giving medtech companies a head start. High profile companies like Stryker and DePuy Synthes have been attracted to Ireland by the talent pool, highly interconnected ecosystem and regulatory regime that supports a thriving Life Sciences industry.

To meet the need for manufacturing companies to embrace and accelerate their adoption of digital technologies, a new national Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC) will open in Limerick in early 2022. Funded by the Irish Government, the AMC will help both multinational and indigenous manufacturers to access, try, adopt, deploy and scale smart manufacturing technologies. It will also focus on upskilling for future production skills. Given so many firms are considering the benefits of digitisation and how best to get started, the AMC will focus on helping companies understand where they might implement emerging technologies to transition current manufacturing into smart manufacturing.

Medtech companies have much to gain from digitisation and is well positioned to lead the way in smart manufacture. However, it is access to the right infrastructure, skills and a supportive ecosystem that will drive the industry transformation.

Continue reading here:

Why medtech should now lead the way in smart manufacturing - Med-Tech Innovation

How does it feel if we can use our smartphone with our brain? It is more like operating the device without using hands, but with our mind. We are already familiar with Bluetooth and Infrared which makes wireless connectivity possible. Similarly, if the brain is connected to a machine, we can simply operate it with mere thoughts. Sounds amazing?

Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) which is being developed by the Neuralink Corporation of Elon Musk and team is putting forward such a novel concept. During the initial phase, the technology will be implemented in medical sector to be useful for the paralysed individuals. By connecting the brain with machines, the individual can operate it without external help.

As the world has realised the importance of the inclusiveness, more technologies and inventions that benefit physically challenged humans are underway. Instead of treating the paralysed individuals as a separate entity, technology can help them access the world as other people can, or may be in better ways. Neuralink also proposed this idea.

What is Neuralink?

Neuralink is a neurotechnology company that develops implantable brain-machine interface (BMI). It was founded by Elon Musk and a group of scientists. Primarily, BMI is being developed to treat neurological diseases by enabling the individual to regain their sensory and motor functions with the help of technology.

Functioning of Neuralink

Neuralink can be defined as engineering with brain. By linking the neurons in our brain with machines, the users will be able to control it with their brain.

Several micro threads which carries numerous electrodes are implanted into the brain segments which manages the senses and motor skills. The threads are connected to a chip. A Neuralink device called Link that works on a battery is attached outside of the head.

The signals produced in the brain are carried by the threads to the chip and this is passed to the external device via Bluetooth. So, the user will be able to operate it with the brain signals without any external help.

Beneficiaries

Neuralink scientists intend to first implement the technology in medical sector. By implanting BMI, the lives of people affected with neurological diseases like paralysis or spinal cord injuries can be made better.

They can avoid depending others to operate computer or mobile phones and regain sensory and motor skills with the help of technology. Communication is the major challenge faced by paralysed people. With BMI, they can overcome this state to an extent.

Experiments

Musk and team had demonstrated the functioning of Neuralink device last year. They displayed three pigs implanted with Neuralink device and showed how the signals from their brains were carried wirelessly to a computer nearby. Prior to this, Musk and team had exhibitted how Neuralink works with the help of some rats in 2019.

It is learnt that they are planning to start experiments with humans in future. Though Covid outbreak might have affected the project and related experiments, the company is gearing up to test the BMI in humans. It can be expensive and risky, but the technology will be developed further to reduce the chances of failure.

Challenges

Though hailed as groundbreaking invention, the BMI also has some challenges to deal with. One of the key issues is the resistance of body towards external objects.

Once any device are implanted, there are chances of the body rejecting them. Normally, major surgery is required for fixing implants in the body. This increases the risk of the process.

Concerns of safety are not completely resolved and the Neuralink team is trying to develop smaller and affordable technology which does not affect the brain cells but is able to handle more brain data.

The entire world hopes that, in future, Neuralink may succeed to develop an efficient BMI which can overcome the drawbacks and derive positive results. The lives of numerous people who are unable to lead an independent life due to neurological conditions can be changed with Neuralink's BMI.

Reference:https://neuralink.com/

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Neuralink - the groundbreaking initiative of Elon Musk and team - Mathrubhumi English