“The First International Symposium on Brains and Cognition” was held in Harbin on 12^th and 13^th, January 2013. The Symposium was hosted by Harbin Institute of Technology, aiming at promoting the researches on man-machine interactive intelligence science, cognitive science and brain science, strengthening the exchanges and cooperation with the researchers of the same field at home and abroad and providing a platform for their cooperation and exchanges.

Prof. Ma Qingguo at School of Management, Zhejiang University was invited to deliver the first keynote speech. Prof. Ma began by introducing the rapid development of neuroeconomics and neuromanagement in models, computations and control, and raised the concepts and theoretic framework of brain imitation computations based on the achievements of ZhejiangUniversity research teams headed by him. At last, Prof. Ma pointed out the interplay between neuroscience and economics. In the researches on brain cognition, economic models and thoughts can help us understand the work principles of brains and establish more effective models. Prof. Ma’s report aroused great interest from the experts and scholars present at the Symposium and they put forward their suggestions on the key theoretic breakthroughs from their own fields. They held that neuroeconomics and neuromanagement would help set up a bridge between traditional social sciences and cognitive brain computations, which may facilitate the researches on brain and cognitive computations to approach reality and solve realistic problems.