Recent breakthroughs in neuroeconomics are helping to understand how the human decision-making process takes place. Although latest advances have revealed that most of the brain processes that regulate our emotions, attitudes and decisions are beyond our consciousness (implicit processes), many companies are still making strategic decisions relying upon explicit measures such as questionnaires and focus groups. However, the consumer neuroscience market is rapidly growing and demands new knowledge, new skills and new approaches to adapt to the technological evolution of the sector but also for comprehending and communicating with consumers. These requests only find a partial match in existing doctoral programmes. RHUMBO addresses this challenge by delivering an innovative multinational, multi-sectorial, and multidisciplinary research and training programme in cognitive neuroscience, transparently immersive experiences and artificial intelligence with a focus on neuro-business. From the research point of view, RHUMBO will produce tools and models to predict human decision-making in business environments. RHUMBO will use mixed reality technologies (MRT) together with different biometric signals (fMRI, fNIRS, eye tracking, EEG, etc.), supported by artificial intelligence processing techniques, to examine consumer behavioural patterns during dynamic, complex and realistic situations for a deeper understanding of internal consumer psychological states. With this purpose, RHUMBO’s partnership aggregates relevant scientific staff from the academic and corporate worlds which will be involved in a high-level personalised training programme that will guarantee ESRs and future PhD students outstanding Career Opportunities in the consumer behaviour sector and beyond. RHUMBO will disseminate results to a wide spectrum of stakeholders, create awareness in the general public about neuroscience and encourage neuroscience vocational careers among young students.

Recent work has shown that up to 42% of patients diagnosed with a disorder of consciousness (DOC) are misdiagnosed. New EEG system have revealed that some DOC patients can follow basic instructions that do not require any movement, such as imagining movement or counting vibrotactile pulses, which has even allowed them to answer YES/NO questions. This work has provided the foundations for new EEG-based solutions that could go even further – such as predicting clinical outcomes and even providing rehabilitation to facilitate cognitive and motor recovery and emergence into consciousness. The ComAlive project will develop new methods for combining EEG-based assessment and communication tools with prediction and rehab to provide new hope for these patients. The applicant is a practicing neurologist with excellent experience with DOC patients, but does not have training in business, EEG classification methods or software engineering. ComAlive is led by an R&D performing SME with a long history of real-time EEG and biomedical systems, and the other beneficiary is a hospital that is renowned for work with target patients. ComAlive includes extensive dissemination and communication activities to convey our project results to numerous audiences and supplement the ER’s training-by-research. This project will help prepare the ER for a high-impact career working across business, academic, and medical sectors while developing a new industrial system, methods and knowledge that could dramatically impact thousands of lives in the EU alone.

This proposal describes the third core project of the Graphene Flagship. It forms the fourth phase of the FET flagship and is characterized by a continued transition towards higher technology readiness levels, without jeopardizing our strong commitment to fundamental research. Compared to the second core project, this phase includes a substantial increase in the market-motivated technological spearhead projects, which account for about 30% of the overall budget. The broader fundamental and applied research themes are pursued by 15 work packages and supported by four work packages on innovation, industrialization, dissemination and management. The consortium that is involved in this project includes over 150 academic and industrial partners in over 20 European countries.

The grand challenge of this project is to create the basis for a paradigm shift in the way music is performed and experienced, by leveraging the new creative possibilities offered by the emerging Musical Metaverse. The consortium aims to achieve this ambitious challenge by means of i) a socio-cognitive breakthrough, by gaining a deep understanding of the emerging needs and concerns of contemporary musicians and audiences via collaborative design activities and neuro-physiological measurements; ii) a technological breakthrough, by developing radically novel concert platforms and devices that can exchange information among each other via ultra-reliable low-latency wireless networks, with privacy and security constraints; iii) a musical breakthrough, by creating novel concert formats that exploit the technological and socio-cognitive breakthroughs. This project uses an interdisciplinary methodology that combines Human-Computer Interaction, Engineering, Cognition, and Music, drawing from the scientific excellence of the partners. Industrial partners will provide know-how for proof of concept prototypes. Through this disruptive approach, the project will provide a pipeline to the technological development of a new class of musical interfaces and Musical Metaverse ecosystems, whose features will go substantially beyond current systems. The proposed approach aspires to effect a step-change in the design of musical interfaces and systems to musically interact online, resulting in a potentially high economic impact on the music industry. The envisioned technological advancements for the musical domain will provide key solutions for true real-time collaborative activities in the Metaverse in general. The project involves theoretical and experimental aspects, and is a high-impact endeavour from which basic science, EU industry and society can benefit.

The pathological alterations of neurological function (e.g., stroke, trauma, neurodegeneration, epilepsy, neuropsychiatric diseases, chronic pain) are commonly associated with alterations in brain rhythms and activity patterns. There is an urgent clinical need for treatments that can precisely control and restore neural activity, taking advantage of state-of-the-art technological developments in a variety of fields including nanotechnology, nano- and microelectronics, novel materials, brain science, clinical neurology, and computational modelling. META-BRAIN (MagnetoElectric and Ultrasonic Technology for Advanced BRAIN modulation) brings together seven expert partners in these fields with the aim of achieving precise spatiotemporal control of brain activity using magnetoelectric nanoarchitectures that can be polarized by non-invasive, remote magnetic fields. This novel principle of brain activity control will minimize the amplitude of the required magnetic fields, be wireless, and have enhanced spatial resolution from single neurons to cortical areas. We will develop a model-driven fabrication of the coils and monitor the effects on brain function with arrays of graphene microtransistors that uniquely allow full-band recording, integrating all elements in a closed loop. As an alternative to remote brain stimulation we will also use novel ultrasonic technologies. The META-BRAIN control paradigm will be systematically studied in pre-clinical systems from individual neurons to the full brain. All developments and experiments will be carried out in conjunction with theoretical models that will simulate, quantify, and predict optimal arrangements and patterns for the desired output. Translation to humans will be evaluated with our clinical partners, and a detailed dissemination and exploitation plan will be developed by two expert company partners, one of which has extensive expertise in the fabrication of brain interface devices with a worldwide distribution capability.