BCI 4 Kids Calgary

At BCI4Kids Calgary, we strive to provide children with severe neurological disability access to cutting-edge brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to help them achieve greater independence and quality of life. Our vision is to build and grow a child- and family-centered program to bring BCI technology out of the research laboratory and into the lives of people and children that could benefit from it the most. With the help of our program participants, we are driving forward pediatric brain-computer interface research and development that has the potential to help generations of pediatric BCI users for years to come. 

We believe that all children, regardless of their physical ability, have the right to access play and independently explore their environment.  BCI is an emerging field of technology that holds substantial promise for breaking down the barriers children with severe physical disabilities face to access and independence. Despite the promise of BCI technology, most BCI development is being conducted in the secluded laboratories of universities and R&D departments of tech companies. Our mission is to narrow this gap between development and the end user, by connecting affected children with BCI technology and involving them directly in the research process.

We are a team of clinicians, neuroscientists and engineers who believe in the power of technology to change and improve lives, especially the lives of kids with neurological disabilities. We are constantly being inspired by and learning from the children and families we work with, and are driven by a vision of a research and development process that is informed as much by the children who will be using the technology as it is by the scientists developing it.

Our team is a part of the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine and our program is operated out of the Alberta Children's Hospital here in Calgary, Alberta. We are a part of the broader Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program, and are proud to be affiliated with leading organizations such as the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and University of Calgary Biomedical Engineering. We are also a founding member of the BCI-CAN network.