China Is Building a Brain-Computer Interface Industry | WIRED
▻https://www.wired.com/story/china-is-getting-serious-about-brain-computer-interfaces
In a policy document released this month, China has signaled its ambition to become a world leader in brain-computer interfaces, the same technology that Elon Musk’s Neuralink and other US startups are developing.
Brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, read and decode neural activity to translate it into commands. Because they provide a direct link between the brain and an external device, such as a computer or robotic arm, BCIs have tremendous potential as assistive devices for people with severe physical disabilities.
In the US, Neuralink, Synchron, Paradromics, and others have sprung up in recent years to commercialize BCIs. Now, China boasts several homegrown BCI companies, and its government is making the development of the technology a priority.
Research on BCIs dates back to the 1970s, but for decades, the technology was too cumbersome and unreliable for practical applications. Neuralink and its US competitors are all aiming to improve on the design and performance of early BCIs to make useful products for patients.
China’s foray into BCI research came later, but the country is quickly catching up to the US. Several companies and research institutions in China have successfully tested BCI implants in patients, showing that people with paralysis can move a cursor on a computer screen, operate a robotic arm, and type out their thoughts. Last year, the Chinese government released ethical guidelines for the use of BCIs. Now, its policy document lays out a road map for speeding up the development of these devices. It outlines 17 specific steps, which include creating better chips to capture brain signals, improving software to decode those signals, standardizing BCI technology, and establishing manufacturing capabilities.
“The Chinese government has always been supportive of disruptive technologies,” says Phoenix Peng, cofounder and CEO of NeuroXess, a BCI company based in Shanghai. “I think, from the government’s point of view, this policy means that BCI technology has already passed from a concept level into the product level.”
Beyond those uses, the policy document lays out other medical applications. It says BCIs could be used to monitor and analyze brain activity in real time to potentially prevent or reduce the risk of certain brain diseases. It also endorses consumer applications, such as monitoring driver alertness. The document says a wearable BCI could provide timely alerts for drowsiness, lack of attention, and slow reaction times, helping to reduce the probability of traffic accidents.
“I think noninvasive BCI products will get a huge market boost in China, because China is the biggest consumer electronics manufacturing country,” Peng says.
A few US companies, including Emotiv and Neurable, have started selling consumer wearables that use electroencephalography, or EEG, to capture brain waves through the scalp. But the devices are still expensive and have yet to take off more broadly.
China’s policy document, meanwhile, is promoting the mass production of non-implantable devices in various forms—forehead-mounted, head-mounted, ear-mounted, ear buds, and helmets, glasses, and headphones. It also proposes piloting BCIs in certain industries for safety management, such as hazardous materials handling, nuclear energy, mining, and electricity. The document suggests that BCIs could provide early warnings for workplace events such as low oxygen levels, poisoning, and fainting.
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