Despite significant progress in Neural Engineering in recent years, overall progress in the field does not appear to have been commensurate with the scope of investment. It has become evident that the field can benefit from a new paradigm in research and development that focuses on robust algorithm development. The purpose of this planning grant is to develop community support for the creation of the Neural Engineering Data Consortium (NEDC) at Temple University. The NEDC is focusing the attention of the research community on a progression of research questions as well as generating and curating massive data sets to be used in addressing those questions. Under this award, we are conducting an extensive series of workshops and site visits to build consensus amongst various research groups from academia and industry. Guided by this site research, we are developing an operational model for the NEDC that is simultaneously relevant to academic research, industry R&D, and government funding agencies. The NEDC is structured to significantly accelerate research progress and provide resources that promote the development of more robust technology. We are also broadening participation in neural engineering research by making data available to research groups who have significant signal processing expertise but who lack capacity for data generation. The impact of funded research is thus improved by enticing more participation in focused evaluation tasks. Finally, the NEDC is accelerating the transfer of technology to the healthcare marketplace, where it can directly enhance quality of life for a variety of patients.
