Neuroinformatics in Pakistan: building a national framework for data-driven Neuroscience and Neurotechnology

Neuroinformatics represents a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field that integrates Neuroscience, computational science, artificial intelligence, and data engineering to acquire, manage, analyze, and interpret increasingly complex brain data. Advances in Neuroimaging, electrophysiology, multimodal data integration, and computational Neuroscience have made robust Neuroinformatics infrastructure essential for modern data-driven Neuroscience, precision medicine, and intelligent clinical decision support. This Perspective examines the emerging Neuroinformatics landscape in Pakistan, examining institutional research capacity, computational infrastructure, educational and training initiatives, funding mechanisms, clinical informatics, and emerging Neurotechnology and industrial activities. Global developments in Neuroinformatics and Neurotechnology are also examined to contextualize Pakistan's current position and identify opportunities for strategic integration into the international Neuroscience ecosystem. Major barriers are critically evaluated, including fragmented neurological data resources, limited high-performance computing capacity, shortages of interdisciplinary expertise, regulatory and ethical challenges, inadequate interoperability, and barriers to sustained academic-clinical-industrial collaboration. Building on this evidence-informed assessment, this Perspective proposes a national strategy centered on interoperable Neurodata repositories, shared computational infrastructure, interdisciplinary workforce development, responsible data governance, strengthened research-industry partnerships, and international collaboration. Collectively, these priorities provide a practical roadmap for transforming existing computational and Neuroscience capabilities into a coordinated national Neuroinformatics ecosystem. Strategic investment in these areas could strengthen neurological research, accelerate data-driven clinical innovation, and position Pakistan as a more active contributor to the global Neuroinformatics and Neurotechnology landscape.