Pose: phase 2: the cosmiic open-source neuromodulation ecosystem

The National Science Foundation awarded Case Western Reserve University $1.457 million on July 15, 2026, under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to grow the Cleveland Open-Source Modular Implantable Innovators Community (COSMIIC) into a sustainable open-source ecosystem for implanted nerve stimulation devices.

The award funds implementation of contribution procedures, shared governance structures, safety and risk planning protocols, training workshops, technical support systems, and access to manufacturing and supply resources for the open-source nerve stimulation community. COSMIIC has released the only open-source nerve stimulation system that has been implanted in humans, along with its regulatory documentation based on open-source licenses for networked neuroprosthesis technologies. The project seeks to transition COSMIIC from a research-driven community into an ecosystem sustained by contributors across academia and industry, addressing the current barriers to developing and commercializing implantable nerve stimulation devices—high costs, broad team requirements, tight regulation, and re-engineering of patented components.

Case Western Reserve University, operating through its Office of Research Administration in affiliation with University Hospitals of Cleveland, serves as the prime recipient. Performance occurs in Cleveland, Ohio, with a period of performance extending from July 15, 2026, through June 30, 2028. The broader impacts include increased access to nerve stimulation technologies and acceleration of research to understand nerve stimulation treatments and device commercialization pathways.

Abstract

Millions of americans use implanted devices that electrically stimulate their nerves, spinal cord, or brain to treat neural injuries, movement or body function disorders, or mental health conditions. While startups and researchers continue developing new therapeutic implants in the lab, making them available for human use is slow because creating new implants is expensive, requires teams with broad experience, and is tightly regulated. Creating a new device is inefficient because IT involves RE-designing patented parts and navigating confidential regulatory approvals, while adapting existing commercial devices limits flexibility and long-term device availability or technical support. An open-source ecosystem (OSE) for implanted nerve stimulation devices could speed progress. To meet this need, the cleveland open-source modular implantable innovators community (cosmiic) released the only open-source nerve stimulation system that has been implanted in humans, along with its regulatory documentation. The intellectual merit of this pathways to enable open-source ecosystems (pose) project is to understand how to best support the open-source nerve stimulation community by growing cosmiic into a sustainable ecosystem. Key outcomes include implementation of contribution procedures, shared governance, safety and risk planning, training workshops, technical support, and access to manufacturing and supply resources. The broader impacts of this project are increased access to nerve stimulation technologies and accelerating research to understand how the body works, enable new nerve stimulation treatments, and help move nerve stimulation devices to market. This project seeks to grow cosmiic from a community driven primarily by researchers into an OSE sustained by contributors across academia and industry. Its foundation consists of open-source licenses for networked neuroprosthesis (NNP) technologies, which enable a combination of therapies to be delivered by an implanted network of modular nerve stimulation devices. Since 2016, NNP modules have been implanted to restore movement in people who experience paralysis in both the arms and legs due to spinal cord injury. This pose project builds upon this foundation to: 1) design and refine contribution procedures based on needs assessments and evaluations with stakeholders, 2) establish a governance structure by recruiting an external advisory board and leadership team that represents ecosystem constituents, 3) fabricate NNP development kits and design training tutorials for IT, 4) implement a risk analysis plan consisting of a risk assessment checklist and verification guidelines for user contributions, 5) host training workshops, invite attendees to propose research projects, and award development kits to the best submissions, and 6) sustain the OSE by developing supply chain, tech support, and regulatory advising resources. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.