Danny Dankner

Question: Danny, please share 1-2 major brain health needs you observe right now whose solution demands a creative and significant tech-enabled innovation.

Answer: We need low-cost monitoring technologies to track cognitive processes and capabilities at an individual level. This would be critical to trace and diagnose deteriorating processes, especially among the “worried well” and older adults.

What advice would you give an entrepreneur launching an innovation to address that?

The same advice I’d give any entrepreneur: make sure you address a real need, be focused, shorten development cycles and work as close as possible to prospective customers. Of course you also need to assemble a group of capable and connected people which you are comfortable working with.

Finally, please share something exciting you’re working on.

We have been developing cognitive simulation systems to train and improve on-field decision-making performance  among competitive football (“soccer” in the US) players, and it’s exciting to start to see tangible results. For example, the Cologne Sport University just released this fascinating study about the efficacy of the Football IntelliGym, led by Prof. Daniel Memmert–the head of the sports cognition department there.

— Danny Dankner, a serial entrepreneur, is the CEO and co-founder of Applied Cognitive Engineering Ltd (ACE), a leader in the field of cognitive training for competitive athletes. Previously he was on the founding team of Kinetica Internetting Solutions, and led strategic initiatives at MobileSpear and Scepia Internet Solutions. Danny is a founding member of Tel Aviv University’s entrepreneurship forum and serves as board member of the Global Entrepreneurship Network Israel. He will serve as a Judge in the first Brainnovations Pitch Contest hosted by the 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit: Brain Enhancement in the Digital Age (December 5-7th, 2017).

— Brainnovations Judging Panel

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Neuroscience used to be the monopoly of a few elite universities located in a handful of countries. Neuropsychology used to be a quaint niche discipline relatively unconnected to the larger world of neuroscience and content in its methods with paper-and-pencil tests. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Neurotech Revolution Could Lead To ‘Frankenstein’ Brains. Here’s How We Avoid It (Forbes):

“Year 2030, your college-age daughter, who has normal hearing, has been pounding on you to get the latest hearing aid that allows one to cancel out noise on demand, amplify selected ambient conversations at will, and can easily connect to the music store. Should you buy one for her? Maybe you should buy one not only for her, but also for you as you enter your 60s?

Would you still be interested if this device had to be implanted in your cochlea via surgery? What if this device is now augmented with some AI opening the possibility to eave-drop on remote conversations or get automatic translation in any language of the world in real time?…

What are the risks over the benefits? To what extent are enhancements desirable on a personal and societal levels? What if people that undergo such enhancement lose their ability to relate to other who have not? If a device can enhance decision-making, how will the user know that’s it’s truly their decision, in their best interest, rather than being manipulated by the device designers? Keep reading article over at Forbes

Will we soon have an “annual brain check-up” — and what may it look like? Under what conditions may specific brain training/ enhancement methods work? How can we best harness both human neuroplasticity and artificial intelligence (AI) to thrive in the 21st Century? Which companies, technologies and solutions are gaining the most traction so far, and what are some best practices for appropriate use?

The 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit (December 5-7th, 2017) will feature over thirty of the world’s top experts and innovators working on ways to enhance our brain health and performance in light of emerging neuroscience and digital technologies. Additionally, and for the first time, it will host a Brainnovations Pitch Contest to foster collaborative problem-solving between scientists, practitioners, technologists and entrepreneurs.

The Summit Agenda will explore in depth the 5 core themes discussed in the article Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright:

1. 7.5 billion human brains need help to thrive in the Digital Age

2. Lifelong neuroplasticity means all those brains can be enhanced

3. Mobile, sensing, wearable technologies, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI), provide a new platform to harness that neuroplasticity

4. Entrepreneurship and investments are fueling accelerated growth

5. Professionals are stepping up to help ensure appropriate use

–> Learn More & Register HERE.

(10%-off promotional code for SharpBrains readers: sharp2017)

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Marian Diamond, neuroscientist who gave new meaning to ‘use it or lose it,’ dies at 90 (The Washington Post):

“Marian Diamond, a pathbreaking neuroscientist whose research — including a study of Albert Einstein’s preserved brain — showed that the body’s three-pound seat of consciousness was a dynamic structure of beautiful complexity, capable of development even in old age, died July 25 at an assisted-living community in Oakland, Calif. She was 90 Read the rest of this entry »