Simula establishes Centre for Digital Neurotechnology
Published:
As brain disorders have become the leading cause of health loss world-wide, brain health and neurotechnology have moved to the top of the research and innovation agenda, in Norway and globally. By establishing the Centre for Digital Neurotechnology at Simula Research Laboratory, we will contribute our world-class expertise in digital technologies, including predictive modelling, explainable artificial intelligence, and high performance scientific computing, to address this challenge.
On October 7, 2026, Simula established the new Centre for Digital Neurotechnology, led by Marie E. Rognes as Centre Director, with Klas H. Pettersen as Deputy Director and Rachel Thomas as Director for Strategy and Development.
“The human brain is, quite simply, the most remarkable object that we know of. And despite stunning scientific and technological progress over the past century, we are still far from truly understanding how it works”, says Marie E. Rognes, centre Director and Chief Research Scientist at Simula.
The centre for Digital Neurotechnology builds on excellence-oriented research into brain function and brain health developed and conducted at Simula over more than a decade. The official 2025 evaluation of ICT research in Norway characterised Simula’s research as “clearly close to world leading in computational neuroscience”. This evaluation also highlighted that “[t]he involvement of clinicians and medical researchers makes the research highly relevant outside academia.
“Simula holds an extensive portfolio of research within digital neurotechnologies already, ranging from pioneering digital twins to neuro-data science to brain-inspired artificial intelligence to brain-machine interfaces. But until now, this work has been fragmented: spread across groups, departments, and units”, Rognes says and continues: “This centre will enable us to structure, strengthen and spotlight existing research, take a leading role in digital neurotechnology research in Norway and internationally, and create a platform for further growth and collaboration, in research and in research-based innovation.”
The Centre brings together researchers and research projects from across departments, sections and units across Simula. Its core is defined by a group of Principal and Emerging Investigators, supported by a wide national and international network of theoretical, experimental and clinical collaborators.
“It was very easy to say yes to this initiative,” says Lillian Røstad, Managing Director of Simula, “it aligns perfectly with the Simula strategy, where we have stated a clear ambition to use our expertise in computational physiology to develop the advanced digital health technologies that are essential for delivering efficient, precise and individualised healthcare”.
Centre leadership:
Marie E. Rognes (centre Director)
Klas H. Pettersen (Deputy Director)
Rachel Thomas (Director for Strategy and Development)
Centre investigators:
Evrim Acar Ataman, SimulaMet
Baltasar Beferull-Lozano, SimulaMet
Miroslav Kuchta, SRL
Mikkel Lepperød, SRL
Klas H. Pettersen, SimulaMet
Kent-Andre Mardal, SRL
Marie E. Rognes, SRL
Aslak Tveito, SRL