EBRAINS Roadmap Symposium launches strategic debate on the future of digital neuroscience

Hosted at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at LMU University Hospital, the Symposium brought together participants from across the EBRAINS community and beyond, with around 50% of attendees joining from external organisations — many engaging with EBRAINS for the first time. The event followed a broad bottom-up consultation process launched in November 2025, which generated an exceptional community response with 159 submissions from contributors across more than 25 countries. 139 proposals were accepted after a review process.

Nikolaos Koutsouleris (Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LMU Munich) welcomed participants and invited them to visit the former laboratory of German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in the building, where his original microscopy images and research notes are preserved. Dr. Alzheimer’s discoveries, Koutsouleris remarked, still connect with the themes discussed during the symposium.

Katrin Amunts, EBRAINS Joint CEO, introduced EBRAINS to the participants. “The EBRAINS Research Infrastructure is aligned with European priorities in terms of AI, Euro HPC and the European Health Data Space, contributing to European sovereignty. We are developing this infrastructure by scientists, for scientists. That is exactly why the Roadmap Symposium is so important”. 

“Let's deliver a roadmap that is ambitious, inclusive, and transformative”, said Amunts.

Philippe Vernier, EBRAINS Joint CEO, highlighted the contributions to the Roadmap sent by the EBRAINS National Nodes via a questionnaire, saying they are very important to coordinate the different tools and services that the community is developing within EBRAINS. “All the contributions were received and analysed, and will be used in the future. With the National Node Board, we are developing a matchmaking application which will allow to map the contributions”.

“We had fantastic responses”, said Viktor Jirsa, EBRAINS Science Chief Officer. “It is great to see the community caring for EBRAINS, and it also gives us a big responsibility. Now we need to make it work”.

Lively discussion on thematic sessions

The discussions in Munich were grounded in the recently published volume of 139 accepted community contributions, spanning topics from brain digital twins and computational psychiatry to neuromorphic computing, AI, brain–machine interfaces, and open science. Ahead of the Symposium, reviewers from both EBRAINS and external organisations analysed the proposals, identifying converging priorities, recurring scientific and technological demands, and opportunities where EBRAINS could provide unique added value for the European neuroscience community.

This preparatory process formed the basis for the Symposium agenda, which organised the contributions into five strategic themes:

• How does brain function emerge from its multiscale architecture? 
• How do we build digital brain twins that capture disease mechanisms well enough to guide intervention? 
• How do computation, AI, and intelligent infrastructure shape what we can learn about the brain — and what brains can teach machines? 
• How do we translate digital brain science into clinical practice and technological innovation? 
• How do we ensure the sustainability, accessibility, and societal responsibility of brain research infrastructure? 

Each thematic session combined presentations of clustered community proposals with open debate moderated by experts from the field. The Symposium was designed as an interactive forum to identify tensions, priorities, and strategic directions emerging directly from the community.

The debates throughout the two-day event were dynamic and highly participatory. Audience members actively contributed questions and perspectives during every session, while live polls and interactive discussion formats helped capture feedback from the room in real time.

Several of the moderator questions sparked particularly lively exchanges, including: “What is the role that data should play in EBRAINS and how should they be integrated into the platform?”, “How should we reconcile the tension between mechanistic modeling and data-driven approaches?” and “What steps are needed to raise acceptance of EBRAINS for clinical purposes?”.

Strategic AI and next steps

The second day also featured a session on “Strategic AI Research & Innovation Priorities” delivered by Evangelia Markidou, Head of Sector at the European AI Office. The presentation connected the discussions within EBRAINS to broader European priorities in artificial intelligence. “You have to contribute to European tech sovereignty because if you are really world class in something - and it is brain research - you have to make sure that we capitalise in Europe” said Markidou.

The Roadmap now enters its next phase. A writing team will prepare a consolidated summary of the accepted proposals and the discussions held in Munich, to be delivered by the end of the year. These outcomes will contribute directly to the development of the condensed EBRAINS Roadmap 2026–2036, which will define strategic priorities for the coming decade of the European research infrastructure.

Author: Helen Mendes

Contact: press@ebrains.eu