TIME Best Invention Honor Granted to Medtronic’s Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation Tech

Medtronic plc’s BrainSense Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation (aDBS)—touted as the world’s first closed-loop DBS system for people with Parkinson’s—has earned a spot on TIME magazine’s annual list of Best Inventions.

More than 10 million people live with Parkinson’s disease globally,¹ and while there is currently no cure, Medtronic’s deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been treating patients with Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders for over three decades. The company recently enhanced its Percept DBS neurostimulators with exclusive BrainSense Adaptive technology† for Parkinson’s patients. This feature personalizes therapy based on a patient’s brain activity in real time—minimizing the need for patients to manually adjust stimulation.

For more than two decades, TIME has recognized the products, software, and services shaping the world, from breakthroughs in science and technology to innovations that make daily life smarter, easier, and more sustainable. This year’s honorees span categories from artificial intelligence and immersive technology to accessibility, logistics, and healthcare. All entries are thoughtfully assessed by TIME’s editors on impact, innovation, and success.

“Medtronic BrainSense Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation marks a new era in neuromodulation and the use of therapeutic brain-computer interface technology to restore human health. We congratulate Medtronic on joining this year’s esteemed list of Best Inventions,” reads a statement from TIME Editors, Best Inventions 2025.

Medtronic spent more than 20 years developing a complete, sensing-enabled DBS system leveraging exclusive BrainSense technology to detect, capture, and classify different brain signals. This advancement helped Medtronic incorporate therapeutic brain-computer interface (BCI) technology into DBS therapy and BrainSense Adaptive DBS presents the largest-ever commercial launch of BCI technology, according to the company. 

Medtronic received both CE Mark and U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for BrainSense aDBS earlier this year; more than 1,000² patients worldwide have received the adaptive therapy. Recently, the pivotal ADAPT-PD study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology showing clinical effectiveness, long-term safety, and patient preference for Medtronic BrainSense aDBS.³

“We’re honored that our BrainSense Adaptive DBS technology for people with Parkinson’s is being recognized as one of the year’s most important medical innovations,” said Paolo Di Vincenzo, president of the Neuromodulation business, which is part of Medtronic’s Neuroscience portfolio. “This technology represents intentional innovation that responds to a patient’s changing needs, equips clinicians with unparalleled insights, and sets a new standard for DBS therapy.”

Since 1987, Medtronic has served more than 200,000 patients with movement disorders and other indications in more than 70 countries with its DBS therapy.²

Headquartered in Galway, Ireland, Medtronic is a global healthcare technology company that strives to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. It employs. more than 95,000 workers in over 150 countries. Medtronic’s technologies and therapies treat 70 health conditions and include cardiac devices, surgical robotics, insulin pumps, surgical tools, patient monitoring systems, and more.

†The sensing feature of the Percept PC and Percept RC system is intended for use in patients receiving DBS where chronically recorded bioelectric data may provide useful, objective information regarding patient clinical status.

References
¹ Luo, Y., Qiao, L., Li, M., Wen, X., Zhang, W., & Li, X. (2025). Global, regional, national epidemiology and trends of Parkinson’s disease from 1990 to 2021: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 16, 1498756.
² Medtronic data on file
³ Bronte-Stewart, H. M., Beudel, M., Ostrem, J. L., Little, S., Almeida, L., Ramirez-Zamora, A., … & ADAPT-PD Investigators. (2025). Long-Term Personalized Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson Disease: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial. JAMA neurology.