Investor says brain science is becoming the next big wave

The growth the Internet industry brought to China is remarkable-search engine, electronic commerce and mobile Internet have become everyday necessities.

What is next? What kind of science and technology will bring phenomenal growth like the Internet in the coming decades?

Investor Patrick J. McGovern says brain science is a field worth investing in, though the rewards he looks forward to are not monetary.

McGovern is the chairman and founder of International Data Group, a world-leading technology media, events and research company.

In 1992, IDG was one of the foreign pioneers to enter the Chinese market, and had a head start in local business especially the Internet-related field-with its investment in companies like Baidu, Sohu, Tencent, Soufun and Ctrip.

Since 2011, McGovern and his wife, Lore Harp McGovern, have invested in brain science research in China. They signed agreements to create institutes with three universities in Beijing-Tsinghua University, Peking University and Beijing Normal University.

According to the agreements, IDG will donate $10 million to each of the three institutes by 2021.

The three new institutes followed the establishment of McGovern Institute for Brain Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in United States, the first brain research institute the couple invested in, in 2000.

The McGoverns decided to extend the research institute to China because many of the most brilliant brain and neural scientists they met were from China. In fact, 30 percent of the 500 employees at the McGovern Institute at MIT has Chinese parentage.