{"id":33531,"date":"2017-11-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/researchdev\/2017\/11\/15\/brain-alliance-emerges-as-model-for-research-and-innovation-success-that-leads-to-impact-2\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T08:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:58:09","slug":"brain-alliance-emerges-as-model-for-research-and-innovation-success-that-leads-to-impact-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/research\/2017\/11\/15\/brain-alliance-emerges-as-model-for-research-and-innovation-success-that-leads-to-impact-2\/","title":{"rendered":"BRAIN Alliance emerges as model for research and innovation success that leads to impact"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"

Nick Cercone<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Back in 2015, computer science Professor Nick Cercone, of the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University, had a brilliant idea to connect the best Ontario academic researchers with private and public sector organizations to collaboratively narrow the research and innovation gap. Building on this idea with others, he created the Big Data Research, Analytics and Information Network<\/strong> (BRAIN) Alliance, an Ontario network of universities, and public and private institutions working together to conduct state-of-the-art translational research on large-scale data sets.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Aijun An<\/p><\/div>\n

The network was made possible by investments from participating universities and public\/private partners, as well as an Ontario Research Fund (ORF) \u2013 Research Excellence Grant. Total funding, which added up to $10 million, came from three sources: the ORF grant ($3.5 million), private sector partners ($3.5 million) and universities ($3.5 million).<\/p>\n

After Cercone\u2019s untimely death in December 2015, his colleague and Co-Principal Investigator of BRAIN, York Professor Aijun An, took the reins. Together with Project Manager Laura Zeno, the BRAIN Executive Committee<\/a> and more than 20 co-investigators<\/a>, An maintains the high standards established by Cercone.<\/p>\n

Exponential growth, research outputs abound<\/h3>\n
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

BRAIN Alliance research outputs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Today, in autumn 2017, 21 collaborative research projects operate under the BRAIN umbrella, led by researchers from York, OCAD University, Ryerson University and the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n

This work is undertaken in collaboration with many partners, including the Globe and Mail<\/em>, Dapasoft, IBM, Empress Software, iNAGO, Manifold Data Mining Inc., St. Michael\u2019s Hospital and the Public Health Agency of Canada.<\/p>\n

Each unique collaboration works to address at least one of the four challenges in big data analytics and visualization:<\/p>\n