Here was one of the key arguments we used on this year's NIO public policy up on Capitol Hill.

THE NEUROTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IS UNDERCAPITALIZED DUE TO R&D BOTTLENECKS.
According to leading neurotechnology analysis firm NeuroInsights, annual venture capital investment in US neurotechnology companies was approximately $1.35 billion in 2007. This investment funded roughly 400 companies, providing high-quality jobs to 45,000 Americans. But much more can be done. R&D bottlenecks, such as lack of research coordination and a long and uncertain FDA approval process, are preventing an estimated $1.5 billion in further annual investment in US neurotechnology companies. This investment would lead to the creation of as many as 500 more companies and 50,000 more high-quality jobs.

THE NATIONAL NEUROTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE REMOVES THESE R&D BOTTLENECKS.
The National Neurotechnology Initiative (NNTI) uses less than four percent of current federal brain research funding to remove key bottlenecks in the R&D process:

• Bottleneck 1: Agencies do not coordinate their neurotechnology research. The NNTI establishes a National Neurotechnology Coordinating Office within the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that NIH, DOD, and VA are working together and not duplicating effort.
• Bottleneck 2: The 16 Institutes within the NIH that focus on brain research are insufficiently coordinated. The NNTI fully funds and supports the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, an ongoing inter-institute research effort.
• Bottleneck 3: NIH is pushing too few treatments out of the lab and into development. The NNTI funds SBIR and STTR programs at NIH to accelerate this process.
• Bottleneck 4: FDA approval processes for brain-related drugs, devices, and diagnostics are slower and more expensive than for other treatments, and approval pathways are uncertain. The NNTI provides funding for FDA to hire and train neurotechnology experts and set much-needed neurotechnology standards.

THE NNTI LEVERAGES 7X AS MUCH PRIVATE CAPITAL TO CREATE JOBS.
Removing these bottlenecks will catalyze private investment by making neurotechnology R&D more efficient and productive. NeuroInsights estimates that the federal investment represented by the NNTI will have a multiplier effect of nearly 7x in private capital.

THE NNTI ADDRESSES THE $1 TRILLION ANNUAL ECONOMIC BURDEN OF BRAIN ILLNESS.
More than 100 million Americans – one in three – are affected by some type of brain-related illness, injury, or disorder. These include mental illness, addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, chronic pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, and many others. They also include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), which disproportionally affect members of our armed forces. The combined economic burden of these diseases is more than $1 trillion per year. Lessening this burden will further improve the economy.