The fourth roadmap in Protocol Labs' Brain–Computer Interface Roadmap Series.
This report examines how neurotechnology could attract the capital needed to scale beyond single-product medical devices. It proposes a ten-year strategy: invest in software and data ventures that demonstrate broader uses for neural interfaces, while developing reimbursement pathways for the ongoing software services that keep adaptive devices safe and effective.
The authors call this software and data ecosystem the “Neuro-App Layer.” They argue that focused investment in applications could help demonstrate neurotechnology's potential as a general-purpose computing platform and attract institutional growth capital. The roadmap connects that commercial ambition to continued patient benefit, wider access to restorative therapies, and explicit consent and user control over neural data.
The report was authored by David A. Markowitz, Juan Benet, Jacques Carolan, Eli Dourado, Thomas Kalil, Amy Kruse, Adam Marblestone, Patrick Mineault, Joanne Zichen Peng, and Sean Escola, and published on Zenodo on October 26, 2026 (CC BY 4.0).
Read the report: via DOI (10.5281/zenodo.23675232) · Download PDF