(a) In April 2013, President Obama unveiled the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative — a collaborative program that will map the activity of every neuron in the human brain with a programmed total investment of more than three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) per year over 10 years.

(b) The BRAIN Initiative is launching with approximately one hundred ten million dollars ($110,000,000) in funding for research in 2014, as well as additional private sector investment from institutes and foundations based in California.

(c) California is poised to be a world leader in this research effort given the prominent role of scientists and industry leaders throughout the state.

(d) Four of the six scientists who proposed the BRAIN Initiative and six of the 15 members of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health for the BRAIN Initiative are from California.

(e) Some California-based corporations have indicated they are interested in collaborating with brain research institutions on research for the BRAIN Initiative to bring new discoveries to the marketplace.

(f) The BRAIN Initiative has the potential to be a major driver of new industries and jobs in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and information technologies, as well as a catalyst for major breakthroughs in brain-related diseases, injuries, and illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, which is programmed to cost California over thirty billion dollars ($30,000,000,000) a year by 2030.

(g) The products of scientific research improve the quality of our lives and health and provide us with high-quality jobs that employ and demand a highly skilled workforce.

(h) Given California’s assets and capacity for collaboration, entrepreneurship, and innovation, a state investment to expand and accelerate this research in the state and to promote the translation of breakthroughs into the marketplace is an important investment in the intellectual infrastructure for California’s economic future.

(Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 34, Sec. 32. (SB 860) Effective June 20, 2014.)