Canada’s Neurotechnology Leadership: Competing Globally in Brain Health Innovation

One in three Canadians will face a neurological disease or neuropsychiatric disorder in their lifetime—a startling reality. Millions more across Canada are impacted, either directly or indirectly, as caregivers, by neurological conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, or the peripheral nerves branching to the rest of the body. 

An aging population and other factors drive this global phenomenon, with the World Economic Forum recognizing the impact of brain health as a global priority for the first time in 2025. For its part, Canada has launched a national brain research initiative and hosted the G7 Brain Economy Summit, highlighting brain capital, namely, brain health and skills, including cognitive, motor, and emotional resilience, as a crucial driver of economic growth.

Addressing this accelerating issue is both an economic necessity and a humanitarian imperative. The emerging field of neurotechnology presents a transformative opportunity to advance brain health, enhance patient outcomes, and drive long-term prosperity through innovation and cutting-edge research.

By harnessing its robust research ecosystem and fostering innovation, Canada has an opportunity to have a significant global impact in the neurotechnology industry. Through boosting investments and taking bold steps to build capabilities, we can empower early-stage neurotechnology companies to seize new opportunities and positively impact patients at home and abroad.

Canada’s Neurotechnology Impact: Homegrown Innovations Transforming Healthcare

Neurotechnology can be broadly defined as any technology designed to understand, interact with, or impact the nervous system, with the potential to treat various conditions and enhance human performance. Though brain implants have recently gained media attention, namely because of Elon Musk and Neuralink, the origins of the broader field can be traced much closer to home.

Canada played a significant role in laying the foundations of the neuroscience field. Dr. Wilder Penfield famously pioneered the “Montreal Procedure” in 1937—garnering global recognition for the surgical treatment of epilepsy and revolutionizing brain mapping, neurosurgery, and memory research in the process. This is one of many examples demonstrating how Canadian discoveries have shaped our modern understanding of brain function, influencing medical advancements and cognitive science.

Today, neuroscience research is driving insights into dementia, chronic pain, stroke, and depression, among others. It is even tackling diseases not traditionally viewed as neurological, such as diabetes. With continued progress in neurotechnology, these conditions may one day be curable.

All these developments are converging to produce conspicuous results with a plethora of homegrown companies making novel advances in neurotechnology spanning cognitive performance augmentation, disease treatment, and neurorehabilitation. Examples include Muse, a headband using electroencephalography and functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure brain activity for health, wellness, and performance; Grey Matter Neurosciences, a portable helmet leveraging focused ultrasound brain stimulation to enhance cognition in Alzheimer’s disease; and Panaxium, with an innovative brain implant for precise electrical stimulation for recovery of brain function. 

Our success made Canada a desirable destination for foreign companies looking to establish a foothold in North America, including Kurage, makers of a smart garment combining functional electrical stimulation and artificial intelligence (AI) for neurorehabilitation to restore movement. 

These solutions represent a radical departure from traditional treatment and monitoring approaches, introducing an alternative paradigm targeting signals at the source, the brain.

Crucially, such efforts are largely enabled by provincial and federal initiatives, designed to support early-stage ventures. Notably, the Ontario Brain Institute, Alberta’s Brain Innovations, Quebec’s MEDTEQ+, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, among others, all provide funding, mentorship and support for commercialization opportunities. The federal government committed $80 million to advance brain research over four years starting in 2024. 

The range of initiatives demonstrates a growing alliance between the public and private sectors, with demonstrable outcomes—Ontario alone has created over 600 neurotechnology-related jobs.

Harnessing these developments will be critical for addressing the pervasive impact of illnesses that can have a crippling effect on our citizens and economy.

Addressing Brain Health Challenges While Seizing Economic Opportunity:

Canadians aged 16 to 24 are facing unprecedented levels of burnout, anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, and suicidal ideation, reaching highs not seen in years.

Meanwhile, our aging population is growing rapidly. Statistics Canada reports that the number of Canadians aged 85 and older has doubled since 2001, with centenarian growth rising even faster, and is forecasted to triple by 2050.

These two compounding demographic realities increase pressure on already-strained health resources.

A 2023 study by the Fraser Institute revealed that Canada allocates more funds to healthcare than most high-income OECD countries with universal healthcare systems. When adjusted for factors such as age – specifically the proportion of the population over 65 – it ranks highest in health-care expenditure as a percentage of GDP and ninth in health-care spending per capita.

With significant economic shifts and rising investments in defence and infrastructure, Canada cannot expect to make meaningful progress in healthcare by continuing down the same path and must address the impact of brain-related disorders, which cost the global economy $8.5 trillion in lost productivity each year. 

Emerging technologies offer a potential way to alleviate resource constraints by creating more effective solutions to reduce healthcare’s economic burden, improving not only health outcomes and quality of life but also brain capital, with broad societal ramifications. Neurotechnology shows promise on all these fronts.

Beyond the humanitarian impact, the commercial opportunity is also immense. 

The global neurotechnology market is projected to reach US$29.8 billion by 2029, advancing at a CAGR of 14.4 %. Embracing this growth will attract talent in highly complex and technical positions, potentially leading to groundbreaking technologies that attract domestic and foreign capital, fueling sectoral expansion. However, without continued economic incentives, supportive policy, and access to capital, commercial progress may stagnate and thus limit benefits to patients. 

The good news is that we can learn and benefit from investment in another emerging technology. 

Artificial Intelligence and Neurotechnology

While there are some key differences, particularly with respect to hardware expertise, neurotechnology shares many parallels with Artificial Intelligence (AI), both characterized by conceptual complexity, advanced technical expertise, and significant innovation potential.  

Canada is a pioneer in AI, investing early in research and talent development that laid the foundation for its global leadership today. Canadian researchers made groundbreaking contributions to deep learning that fueled the AI revolution, starting their investments in the 1980s before a resurgence of interest in the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2017, Canada became the first country to implement an AI strategy, which helped boost research and commercialization efforts even further. This support helped establish world-renowned AI hubs, including MILA in Montreal, theVector Institute in Toronto, and Amii in Edmonton, attracting top global talent and fostering AI-driven innovation across industries. 

Importantly, these steps cultivated a local workforce with deep expertise in machine and deep learning, software development, data science, and biomedical and electrical engineering, which are interdisciplinary skills needed to fuel neurotechnology innovation. 

AI has a crucial role to play in neuroscience. For example, detecting patterns in large datasets of brain signals, improving models to help interpret brain function (e.g. our perceptions and intentions), and enhancing neurotechnology’s ability to help someone recover function n by finetuning brain stimulation or helping control prosthetic limbs. By strategically aligning these capabilities, we have a unique opportunity to accelerate neurotechnology growth and cross-sector innovation. 

With a robust base of interdisciplinary talent firmly in place, it is possible to look outward, fast-tracking innovation across borders by expanding strategic alliances with global neurotechnology hubs such as the US, the European Union, and Asia-Pacific. In fostering global research initiatives, we must help drive the development of standards and the harmonization of regulatory pathways, accelerating clinical trials and device approvals to advance commercialization efforts.

In facing the rising neurological health challenge, Canada also has a significant opportunity. With a solid research base, innovative companies, strategic government support, and strong collaboration, Canada can improve brain health outcomes and fuel long-term economic growth, cementing its position as a leader in neuroscience innovation.