The Burning Man Of Brain Science And How Croatia Became Ground Zero For AI''s Next Breakthoughs

Published in Science and Technology on Thursday, July 24th 2025 at 6:43 GMT by Forbes
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The world''s brightest minds gathered in Split, Croatia, for what one attendee called "neurIPS crossed with Burning Man." This wasn''t your typical academic conference. For four days in May 2025, the sixth International Conference on Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI brought together an extraordinary collection of researchers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who are wrestling with some of the profound questions of our time: How do we think? How do machines learn? And what happens when the two converge?

The Burning Man of Brain Science and How Croatia Became Ground Zero for AI's Next Breakthroughs

In the sun-drenched coastal city of Split, Croatia, where ancient Roman ruins meet the Adriatic Sea, an unlikely revolution is unfolding. It's not a political uprising or a tourism boom, but a seismic shift in the world of artificial intelligence and neuroscience. At the heart of this transformation is Dr. Ivo Petrović, a maverick neuroscientist often dubbed the "Burning Man of Brain Science." The moniker draws from the infamous Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert—a chaotic, creative explosion of human ingenuity and radical self-expression. Petrović embodies that spirit: a brilliant, eccentric visionary whose work is setting fire to conventional boundaries between the human mind and machine intelligence. But how did this small Balkan nation, better known for its Game of Thrones filming locations and soccer prowess, become the epicenter for AI's next big leaps? The story is one of serendipity, bold investment, and a perfect storm of global talent converging on the Dalmatian coast.

Petrović's journey began in the labs of Zagreb's Ruđer Bošković Institute, Croatia's premier research facility. Born in a modest village near Dubrovnik, he showed early promise in biology, earning scholarships to study at MIT and later Oxford. His obsession? Decoding the brain's "neural symphonies," as he calls them—the intricate patterns of electrical and chemical signals that underpin consciousness, creativity, and decision-making. Traditional neuroscience, he argues, has been too siloed, treating the brain like a static computer rather than a dynamic, adaptive ecosystem. Enter AI: Petrović saw machine learning not as a tool, but as a mirror to the human mind. "AI isn't imitating us," he told me in an exclusive interview at his seaside lab. "We're co-evolving. The brain is the ultimate algorithm, and AI is our way of reverse-engineering it."

The "Burning Man" label stuck after a 2023 TED Talk where Petrović dramatically set ablaze a model of a human brain on stage—symbolizing the need to "burn down outdated paradigms" in science. The stunt went viral, drawing comparisons to the festival's ethos of radical inclusion and impermanence. But it was more than theater; it heralded his groundbreaking project, NeuroForge, a collaborative initiative blending neuroscience, AI, and quantum computing. Launched in 2024, NeuroForge isn't just another research program—it's a movement. Petrović assembled a dream team of international experts, including AI pioneers from Silicon Valley, neurobiologists from Japan, and ethicists from Europe. What makes it unique? Its location in Croatia, a country that, post-EU accession in 2013, has quietly positioned itself as a hub for tech innovation.

Croatia's rise as AI's ground zero stems from a confluence of factors. First, geography: Nestled between Western Europe and the emerging markets of the East, it's a natural bridge for talent and ideas. The government's "Digital Croatia" initiative, rolled out in 2020, poured billions into STEM education and infrastructure, offering tax incentives for tech startups and research grants that rival those in Berlin or Tel Aviv. By 2025, Zagreb and Split boast state-of-the-art AI labs equipped with Europe's fastest supercomputers, powered by renewable energy from the country's wind farms. But it's the human element that truly sets Croatia apart. The nation's history of resilience—rebounding from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s—has fostered a culture of innovation under constraint. "We Croatians are hackers at heart," Petrović quips. "We build empires from ruins."

NeuroForge's breakthroughs are already rewriting the AI playbook. At its core is "Symbiotic Neural Networks" (SNNs), a hybrid system that integrates biological brain data with AI algorithms. Traditional AI, like large language models, relies on vast datasets scraped from the internet. SNNs go deeper, using real-time brain scans from volunteers to train models on human cognition. Imagine an AI that doesn't just predict your next word but anticipates your emotions, adapts to your creativity, and even dreams like a human. In one experiment detailed in a recent Nature paper, Petrović's team hooked participants to EEG devices during creative tasks—painting, composing music, or solving puzzles. The data fed into an AI that generated original art, outperforming tools like DALL-E in originality and emotional depth.

But the real game-changer is in medical applications. SNNs are pioneering treatments for neurological disorders. For Alzheimer's patients, the system creates personalized "neural prosthetics"—AI implants that restore memory pathways by mimicking healthy brain activity. Early trials in Split's university hospital have shown a 40% improvement in cognitive function for participants, a leap beyond current therapies. In mental health, SNNs power virtual therapists that detect subtle emotional cues from voice and biometrics, offering interventions tailored to individual brain patterns. "We're not curing diseases," Petrović explains. "We're augmenting humanity."

Croatia's role extends beyond Petrović. The country hosts the annual Adriatic AI Summit, now in its third year, drawing luminaries like Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis. What started as a modest conference in 2023 has ballooned into a Burning Man-esque gathering: think TED Talks by day, bonfire brainstorming sessions by night on pebble beaches. Attendees camp in eco-pods, collaborating on open-source projects. Last year's summit birthed "Quantum Mind," a Croatia-based startup fusing quantum computing with brain-inspired AI. Backed by EU funds and venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz, it's developing algorithms that process data at speeds mimicking synaptic firing—potentially solving complex problems like climate modeling in minutes.

Economically, this AI boom is transforming Croatia. Tech exports have surged 150% since 2022, creating 50,000 jobs in AI-related fields. Split, once a sleepy tourist town, now rivals Austin, Texas, with co-working spaces and incubators sprouting amid historic walls. Foreign investment is pouring in: Google opened a research outpost in Zagreb, while Croatian firms like Infobip (a unicorn in cloud communications) are integrating SNN tech into global products. Yet, challenges loom. Brain data privacy is a hot-button issue; Petrović advocates for "neural rights," proposing international laws to protect cognitive information like personal data under GDPR.

Critics argue Croatia's ascent is fragile, dependent on EU subsidies and vulnerable to brain drain. Petrović counters: "We're not just importing talent; we're cultivating it." Programs like the Croatian AI Fellowship bring young researchers from Africa and Asia, fostering diversity in a field often dominated by the West.

Looking ahead, Petrović envisions a "Global Brain Network"—a decentralized web of AI systems linked to human minds, enabling collective intelligence. "Imagine solving fusion energy or curing cancer through shared cognition," he says. Ethical safeguards are paramount; NeuroForge includes philosophers and artists to ensure AI enhances, not supplants, humanity.

As the sun sets over the Adriatic, Petrović lights a symbolic fire on the beach, echoing his TED stunt. "Burning Man isn't about destruction," he reflects. "It's about creation from ashes." In Croatia, those ashes are yielding AI's phoenix: breakthroughs that could redefine what it means to be human. From a nation of islands to a nexus of innovation, Croatia proves that the next frontier of AI isn't in megacities—it's wherever bold minds dare to ignite the spark.

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