The Initiative will build on and coordinate multiple efforts within the company, including corporate venture capital, open innovation, R&D, and health care lines of business. This includes previously announced efforts at GE, such as the work that the company has done to convene the traumatic brain injury community and support for “Brain Trust” meetings of thought leaders.

Grand experiments and missions of exploration always need engineering expertise to design the tools, instruments, and systems that make it possible to acquire new knowledge about the physical and biological worlds.