Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is launching a new program to help young companies commercialize brain technologies and it has recruited leading entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists to help in the effort. CDL Neuro, the 16th stream now offered at the accelerator, will support an initial cohort of 20 seed-stage ventures from around the world beginning in October.

Support will be provided to early-stage companies (early venture or growth) or even projects focusing on neuroscience innovations related to drug discovery and pharmaceuticals, neuromodulation, neuroprosthetics, neuromonitoring and data utility, or brain-computer interfaces

The creation of the new stream reflects recent developments in robotics, machine learning, and sensor technologies, as well as neuroscience, that have made it possible to understand what is happening in the brain in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago, said Valerie Chiykowski, associate director of CDL Neuro, in an interview with Research Money.

“Previously, we thought of the brain as a bit of a black box. Now, all of a sudden, we're able to interrogate it, modulate it, and understand it in a new way,” she said.

In an email to Research Money, Allison Sekuler, managing director of the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation, an accelerator focused on driving innovations in brain health for older adults, wrote: "CDL's Neuro Stream is a key addition to the Canadian neuro-innovation ecosystem, and will help us advance made-in-Canada breakthroughs that improve human health and quality of life."

"We’ve enjoyed a collaborative relationship with CDL and other accelerators, and are excited to see CDL’s additional focus on brain science through the Neuro Stream. As a neuroscientist myself, I believe strongly that the more talent and capital we can focus in this area, the better," she wrote.

Access to Experienced Mentors

The rapid progress in brain research has been driven in part by massive investments by the United States, Europe, Israel, and other countries. In 2013, for example, former U.S. President Barack Obama launched the BRAIN Initiative, a public-private partnership to accelerate the development and application of new technologies to "revolutionize our understanding of the human brain." The initial funding was U.S.$300-million; by 2019, U.S.$1.3 billion had been invested in science and engineering through the BRAIN Initiative.

More recently, high-profile entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and companies such as Facebook have entered the race to bring brain technologies to consumers. Musk's company Neuralink is building a brain-computer interface to help people with paralysis communicate more easily. 

Shivon Zilis, who is project director at the Office of the CEO at Neuralink, has joined CDL Neuro as a founding fellow. She is one of about a dozen entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists who will mentor companies through the program over a nine-month period. Some of the others are: Sean Hill, director of the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics at the Centre for Addition and Mental Health in Toronto, which is using big data, artificial intelligence and brain modelling to understand and treat mental illness; and Imran Eba, a partner at U.S.-based Axon Potential Venture Capital, a $50-million fund that invests in companies developing small, implantable devices for modulating the peripheral nervous system.

"The brain is so specialized that when we develop a mentor pool, we're pretty strict that they do have a background in it and can weed out hype from real science," said Chiykowski. 

Brain tech companies face other challenges too, including longer timelines to maturity and regulatory hurdles, she added. 

Access to capital can also be a struggle, according to Sekuler. "We know brain science founders have been under-supported when it comes to venture capital—perhaps because of a lack of understanding of the science or the lack of focused investors with enough background to identify promising solutions—so these sorts of dedicated programs will help neuro-focused companies flourish, keeping motivated talent in the sector, and building the track record of success that attracts more investment," she wrote.

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