Tan Le (b. 1977) is an innovator in the field of neurotechnology. Le arrived in Australia at age four with her mother, sister, grandmother, aunt and uncle, all refugees who had undertaken the perilous boat journey from Vietnam. She excelled academically, beginning her honours degrees in law and commerce at Monash University at sixteen. Inspired by her mother, Mai Ho, who became the inaugural mayor of the city of Maribyrnong in 1997, Le helped Melbourne's Vietnamese community with training programs and counselling, becoming president of the Australian Vietnamese Services Resource Centre, all while studying at university. In 1998, her contribution led her to being named Young Australian of the Year and one of Australia's Most Successful Women Under 30. After working as a lawyer, Le shifted her focus to the field of technology. A pioneer of the emerging field of brain-computer interface, in 2003 she jointly founded a company called Emotiv Systems, and two years later she moved to California's Silicon Valley. Le formed Emotiv Inc in 2010, a neuroinformatics company that develops electroencephalography (EEG) technology to advance understanding of the human brain. Emotiv's headsets detect the wearer's brainwaves, allowing them to control objects with only their thoughts. This technology has a range of benefits and holds life-changing potential for people with motor impairments. Among Le's many awards are the Advance Global Australian Award for Information and Communication Technology (2012) and the G'Day USA Innovation Award (2014). She was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2013, and is both an Ambassador for the Status of Women and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. In 2018 she received the Industrial Research Institute Achievement Award, honouring her 'outstanding accomplishment in individual creativity and innovation that contributes broadly to the development of industry and to the benefit of society'. Le published her first book, The NeuroGeneration: The new era of brain enhancement revolutionising the way we think, work and heal in 2020.
