Korean brain neuroinformatics research program: Creating artificial digital brain based on neuroscience

Abstract

The Brain Science Research Center at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Daejeon, Korea, has been the core of 70 professors working on artificial digital brain, i.e., a brain-like intelligent system based on the brain information processing mechanism. Korean Ministry of Science and Technology had funded the project as the Brain Science and Engineering Research Program from 1998 to 2001, and will go on as the Brain Neuroinformatics Research Program from 2001 to 2008. The Brain Neuroinformatics Research Program has two goals, i.e., to understand information processing mechanisms in biological brains and to develop intelligent machines with human-like functions based on the mechanism. This goal was determined in consideration of both bottom-up extrapolation of technology development trends and top-down prediction of technology demands in future human society. It is a joint effort of researchers from many different disciplines including neuroscience, cognitive science, mathematics, physics, electrical engineering, computer science, etc.