Technology company INBRAIN Neuroelectronics will receive 17.5 million euros from the EU to create graphene-based neurological therapies
The company INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, founded by a researcher from the Barcelona Microelectronics Institute, has been selected by the European Innovation Council to receive Accelerator funding.
INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a technology-based company co-founded by researchers from the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM) and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), will receive 17.5 million euros from the European Innovation Council (EIC) through an Accelerator financing.
Inbrain Neuroelectronics seeks to decode signals from the brain to achieve graphene-based smart neurological therapies that can treat neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases. The company designs intelligent microdevices to be implanted in the brain, capable of decoding brain signals with high fidelity, and that can be used in therapeutic treatment adapted to the clinical condition of each patient.
The ICN2, a joint center of the CSIC, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Generalitat de Catalunya, is a member of the Graphene Flagship, a scientific research initiative of the European Union to bring innovation in graphene from the laboratory to society through commercial applications.
Inbrain Neuroelectronics was founded in 2020 by researchers from the ICN2, the IMB-CNM-CSIC -Anton Guimerà- and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), and is directed by Carolina Aguilar, from the company Medtronic.
"Following support from the European Graphene Flagship program, which helped mature our innovative graphene technology, the EIC call endorsement demonstrates the potential of this technology to revolutionize neurotechnology and scale to levels where patients in Europe and across the globe world could benefit for a variety of neuron-related disorders," says Aguilar, CEO of Inbrain Neuroelectronics.
The EIC Accelerator Funding will provide Inbrain with significant financial support with a grant of €2.5 million for innovation development costs, as well as a direct equity investment of up to €15 million, managed by the EIC Fund, to push the world's first graphene smart brain network platform towards commercialization. In addition, Inbrain will receive advice, mentoring, investor and business access, and other business acceleration services as part of the EIC community.
Accelerator funding from the European Innovation Council supports small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly start-ups and spin-offs, to develop and scale up breakthrough innovations. This latest call attracted more than 1,000 applications from across Europe, across all industry sectors, of which 78 were selected for funding, including Inbrain Neuroelectronics.
Inbrain Neuroelectronics received additional funding earlier this year under the EIC Pathfinder Challenge scheme for the development of minimally invasive neuroelectronic therapies in cooperation with a consortium including ICN2, Inter-University Center for Microelectronics (IMEC), Fraunhofer IZM, ETH Zurich, Nanoflex and the Leiden University Medical Center.