IEEE NER Conference Brings Neural Engineers to San Diego
by JoJo Platt, senior contributing editor
December 2025 issue
In a rare scheduling shift, the IEEE Engineering Medicine and Biology society shifted its biannual Neural Engineering (NER) conference from spring to late fall last month in San Diego. Sandwiched between the Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco and buttressed immediately against Society for Neuroscience, the conference provided a meaningful bridge between the industry and commercialization focus of the former and the heavily pre-clinical and early research concentration of the latter.
The inaugural edition of the conference was held in Capri, Italy in 2003, a site the organizers revisited for the 20th anniversary of the event. The conference was envisioned as the first gathering specifically dedicated on the nascent field of neural engineering and distinct from neuroscience or biomedical engineering. The conference’s inaugural chair, Metin Akay, and then director of the NSF’s biomedical engineering efforts, Carol Lucas, made immediate headway in demonstrating the importance of the conference and the field. The history of the conference is largely secondary but many in attendance credit Lucas’s “200 paper review and roadmap” as a seminal moment for neural engineering.
When asked for reflection on the foundational 2003 conference, Akay noted that “Many attendees of the first NER have become distinguished professors at respected universities and institutes as well as research center directors, government policy makers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs in the flourishing neurotech industry.”
Fast forward to 2025 and the conference is still impactful and well attended. This year’s theme “Human-Centered Neural Engineering and AI” created a canvas for exciting presentations and impactful engagement. Presentations officially began on November 11 with a workshop day that featured seven distinct workshops. “Enabling Neurotechnology Translation” featured industry leaders including Riki Banerjee, Erika Ross, and Tim Marjenin as well as a panel of the next generation of neurotech entrepreneurs and leaders. The “Implanted BCIs: Technologies, Applications, and Future Directions” workshop drew a healthy crowd and included Kevin Otto, Francis Willett, Rob Gaunt and other speakers.
Sara Shnider, senior director of the One Mind Accelerator, organized and led an impactful workshop focused on neural engineering opportunities to improve mental health. “The One Mind Accelerator supports bold entrepreneurs building the future of mental health” Shnider noted. “Working with NER was a great opportunity to bring together founders, funders, innovators, and people with lived experience to explore current trends and opportunities at the intersection of mental health and neurotech.”
The main conference offered a single-track format to ensure a tight focus and concentrated topics and included a variety of keynote speakers; David McMullen delivered one of his last public presentations for the FDA before moving to Neuralink in December. Other keynote speakers included Ellis Meng of the University of Southern California, Giacomo Indiveri of University of Zurich, Adele Barnard of Veritus Research, and Doug Lautner of Abbott Neuromodulation. Tim Marjenin of MCRA closed the programming with an exploration of the latest in industry regulation and translational issues and opportunities with an emphasis on U.S. and European markets.
Gert Cauwenberghs, the conference co-chair alongside Bruce Wheeler, summarized the conference by the numbers. “Under the theme of “Human-Centered Neural Engineering and AI”, NER 2025 highlighted emerging advances at the dynamic intersection of clinical practice, technological innovation, and AI-driven solutions with a focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and translation. The program included more than 300 interactive posters and live demonstrations of neurotechnologies, 90 spotlight oral presentations, 31 contributed oral talks, and five keynotes in a plenary single-track format allowing full and undivided attention in dynamic interaction between presenters and attendees.
New in 2025, NER expanded in exciting new directions in the field including keynotes by Giacomo Indiveri of ETHZ on neuromorphic neural interfaces and Ellis Meng of USC on endovascular neural interfaces, an NIH NINDS Brain hosted minisymposium on “Closing the Loop Between Neuroscience and A.I. through Neuromorphic Engineering to Improve Clinical Care,” and several panels with industry and clinical experts. A selection of more than 200 conference proceedings articles summarizing major advances reported at NER 2025 is being made available online accessible from anywhere over IEEExplore.”
Special sessions included a brand-new Young Professionals pitch competition and Women in Neural Engineering social hour. Hundreds of posters were presented over the course of the three days of the conference providing an opportunity for speakers and attendees to engage with authors and explore the latest research.
EMBS president Erika Ross Ellison is bullish on the future of the society and the conference. “NER 2025 was a powerful showcase of the breadth, energy, and talent shaping today’s neurotechnology ecosystem,” she said in a text to Neurotech Reports. “Across neuromodulation, BCIs, sensing, and AI, the conference highlighted both the scientific depth of the field and the growing sophistication of its players. The momentum was palpable, and it sets the stage nicely for even more cross-disciplinary collaboration at EMBC 2026 in Toronto.” Ross Ellison confirmed that the 2027 NER conference will be in Europe with the exact location and dates to be announced in the new year.