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The Bionic Ear Institute, a foundation Forum sponsor, underwent an identity change last week. The Prime Minister, The Hon. Julia Gillard, announced the formation of the Bionics Institute at a ceremony in Melbourne attended by 160 people.
“The Bionics Institute is an exciting chapter in the pioneering work that will delver new technologies to improve human health”, Prime Minister Gillard said, via a video message. “This is a great opportunity for Australian industry – I’m confident there will be many manufacturing opportunities arising from the research of the Bionics Institute”, said Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science, representing the Prime Minister at the ceremony.
After 25 years as the Bionic Ear Institute, the change of identity reflects the breadth of the Institute’s research activities in the field of medical bionics. The Institute has three major research themes: Bionic hearing; Bionic Vision, and; Neurobionics.
“We will focus on the pursuit of fundamental science and work in collaboration with commercial partners to ensure our scientific developments lead to commercially viable products and services that will improve the health of Australians”, said Professor Rob Shepherd, Director of the Institute.
Medical bionics is a field of medicine which aims to replace and/or enhance impaired sensory or other functions using electric devices that interface with the human body by recording from and/or stimulating neural tissue. Examples of medical bionics devices include cochlear implants (bionic ears); deep brain stimulation for motor tremor and brain-computer interfaces to allow amputees to control artificial limbs.
You can visit the Bionics Institute website at
http://www.bionicsinstitute.org.au for more detail.
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