A comprehensive brain research center will open in 2013. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said on Sept. 30 that it has finalized a plan to establish a Korea Brain Research Center (tentatively named) which will play a leading role in conducting comprehensive research on various cerebral diseases and convergence research on the brain in preparation for an aging society.
This brain research center is expected to emerge as a convergence research Mecca encompassing brain medical science, IT and natural sciences, and as a laboratory of brain science.
The government plans to set four main research tasks -- brain science, brain medical science, brain engineering and brain cognition -- for the research center. Under this comprehensive plan, the center will conduct convergence research on the brain by linking with IT, natural engineering, psychology and linguistics.
The Korea Brain Research Center will be founded jointly by the central government and a local administration. At the moment, three metropolitan municipalities, Incheon, Daegu and Daejeon, are competing to see the research center built in their regions.