On the occasion of the Board Dinner Meeting, EBC hosted a Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE), gathering its Members as well as Industry Partners. The objective of the event was to set a platform for interactive discussions regarding neuro-enhancement in general, and the NERRI project (Neuro-Enhancement: Responsible Research & Innovation) in particular, in order to contribute to the process of formulating recommendations for the European Union.
On this occasion, Ana Noronha (NERRI project co-ordinator) and George Gaskell (NERRI project partner) were invited to moderate the evening, and Gianluca Quaglio from the European Parliament Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) secretariat, presented the outcomes of a STOA study on human enhancement (2009).
These interventions were followed by a debate on various key issues, such as the Year of the Brain campaign outcomes, the industry point of view on what has been achieved regarding attention and memory over the past few years, or the matter of research among the “normal population” to name but a few.
The discussions concluded by stressing the fact that there are currently very different ideas and images regarding brain-related issues across Europe, which make a European consensus on this matter very hard to reach. In addition, proposals were made for the EBC to organise a summit in 2016, to bring all the brain specialists around a same table and gather thoughts to move brain-related issues higher on the EU agenda.