With a vision of establishing Ontario as a world leader in brain research, commercialization and care, the Ontario Brain Institute team prioritizes providing support and resources to those impacted by brain disorders. Recognizing that brain health is global , OBI is aligning Ontario’s strengths with those of global partners to supercharge collaborative neuroscience efforts.

“In joining national and international neuroscience and data sharing initiatives, OBI’s assets and expertise will be fully leveraged to better understand the brain and deliver better treatments,” said Dr. Tom Mikkelson, President and Scientific director. “It is heartening to see, in the exemplary work of our partners, OBI’s commitment to advancing brain health reflected back to us.”

In November 2023, OBI cemented its membership in the Dementia Research and Innovation Funders Alliance by participating in the Alliance’s inaugural meeting. While OBI is not currently funding dementia research directly, its investments in neurodegeneration through commercialization, community engagement, and informatics/data sharing are contributing significantly to the field. Notably, the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative dataset on Brain-CODE contributes to a shared understanding of dementia-related disorders.

Also late last year, OBI was welcomed by the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility as an inaugural member of the Neuroscience Community. “For more than 10 years, the Ontario Brain Institute has fostered an integrated approach for neuroscience discovery to improve brain health. By combining ideas and expertise from patients, researchers, and industry, we've created a powerful ecosystem of innovation using data, analytics, and AI,” said Dr. Francis Jeanson, Head of OBI’s Centre for Analytics and Co-Lead of the Neuroscience Community. “But we can't do this alone. With the Neuroscience Community, we have a genuinely international opportunity to combine efforts and reach breakthroughs faster.

In March 2024, OBI joined EIT Health, established as the knowledge and innovation community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), as a partner in their scientific community of practice. Uncharacteristically for EIT Health, whose primary aim is to foster innovation in Europe, three of this year’s eight new members are based outside of Europe, with OBI being the only Canadian member.