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Tag: China

33 articles

Policy & Regulation

China puts brain-computer interfaces on the 15th Five-Year Plan 'future industry' list

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology named brain-computer interfaces among six future industries in a State Council Information Office press conference on 26 August 2026, alongside quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, embodied intelligence, and 6G. Retail News Asia reports MIIT's draft standards roadmap targets more than 40 BCI national standards by 2028 and more than 80 brain-tech standards by 2030, though the specific count is single-sourced and should be attributed accordingly.

Aug 27

Industry News

China unveils uMR Shenguan, an MRI-integrated closed-loop BCI platform

Tianjin University and Shanghai-listed United Imaging Healthcare (688271.SS) jointly unveiled uMR Shenguan on 23 August 2026 in Tianjin, described by the developer team as a full-stack MRI-integrated brain-computer interface framework. The system is designed to combine neural signal capture, decoding, modulation, and evaluation within a single MRI-based closed loop across 3T and 5T United Imaging systems. Named clinical verticals: motor rehabilitation, neuro-critical care, psychiatry, ophthalmology, and audiology.

Aug 27

Policy & Regulation

The White House re-shelved brain-computer interfaces under 'Future Computing'

The Office of Science and Technology Policy released its National Security Science and Technology Strategy on 19 August 2026, narrowing the Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET) list from 18 domains to 14. Brain-computer interfaces were moved from the retired 'Human-Machine Interfaces' category into 'Future Computing Technologies'. Neurotechnologies were separately moved into 'Biotechnology'. In parallel, US Bureau of Industry and Security enforcement is running through the existing Entity List rather than a BCI-specific export rule: Dallas-based neuroscience equipment manufacturer Plexon accepted a $1.7 million suspended civil penalty for unlicensed exports to Entity-Listed parties in China. BIS's 2021 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on BCI export controls has never been finalised.

Aug 22

Market Moves

Weiling Medical raises over RMB 100 million for its surface-electrode brain implant

Shenzhen's Weiling Medical Technology closed a new funding round of over RMB 100 million on 17 August 2026, led by Junzhong Capital with STAR Market-listed Innotek (688253.SH) as core industrial investor via the Jiaxing Innotek Industrial Fund. Weiling develops a fully implantable, flexible thin-film cortical electrode that sits on the cortical surface rather than penetrating brain tissue. A first-in-human implant in Guangdong in mid-June 2026 was reported by the company to restore forearm and wrist movement in the left upper limb of a locked-in syndrome patient.

Aug 20

Market Moves

China's first commercial insurance policy for invasive BCI surgery is out

State-owned PICC Property and Casualty signed China's first commercial insurance policy covering invasive brain-computer interface surgery on Wednesday 12 August 2026. Counterparty is the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Zhejiang Provincial Government Office released a same-day industry-policy package. Hong Kong and Shenzhen BCI-tagged stocks rallied.

Aug 16

Policy & Regulation

China's first foundational BCI national standards took effect on 1 August 2026

China has published its first national-level rulebook for how brain-computer interfaces should be built and how their data should be shared. Two recommended national standards, GB/T 47023-2026 and GB/T 47127-2026, took effect on 1 August 2026, setting a common technical vocabulary and a shared data format for Chinese BCI companies, hospitals, and researchers. A third standard covering visual-evoked-potential data follows on 1 October 2026. Jointly issued by SAMR and SAC. Published 28 January 2026.

Aug 16

Industry News

Chinese endovascular BCI can be positioned in 10 minutes, Xuanwu Hospital surgeon says

Duan Wanru of Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing said an experienced surgeon can position a Chinese endovascular brain-computer interface in as little as 10 minutes. StairMed unveiled a separate endovascular research program in December 2025 with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, currently in sheep testing. Nankai University completed China's first interventional human BCI in June 2025. Three Chinese endovascular BCI programs are now on the public record.

Aug 10

Market Moves

Six-month-old Chinese BCI startup raises RMB 330 million angel round

Shanghai Active Technology, founded February 2026, closed a RMB 330 million angel round announced on 3 August 2026. Gasgoo and 36Kr describe the raise as the largest single angel round in the Chinese BCI sector to date, though the lead investor was not disclosed. The company is building a full-link invasive BCI with three product lines including a 1024-channel motor system called Tianshu, which has obtained a type inspection report and is preparing to launch clinical trials.

Aug 5

Market Moves

Delian Capital partner warns of a Chinese BCI bubble

VCBeat, the Chinese healthcare-investment media outlet, published an on-record investor take on the Chinese brain-computer interface sector on 2 August 2026. Delian Capital partner Jiang Donghui framed the sector as at risk of a bubble cycle before maturity, laid out a four-quadrant investment matrix based on demand and technological advancement, and named Chinese BCI companies across invasive, semi-invasive and non-invasive paths. H1 2026 financing alone accounted for approximately 60 per cent of the sector's thirteen-year total.

Aug 2

Industry News

Chinese BCI programmes produced four tangible results in July

In one month, four separate Chinese brain-computer interface programmes each produced a public result. Neuracle wrote the world's first commercial prescription for an invasive BCI at Huashan Hospital on 13 July. NeuroXess ran a two-patient cross-city Chinese chess demonstration between Shanghai and Nanchang. StairMed's investigational trial put three quadriplegic patients into paid remote work. And at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, a paralysed fine-arts graduate from Shenzhen demoed a mind-controlled wheelchair he had built himself with LLM-assisted DIY.

Jul 31

Industry News

China performs first commercial Neuracle NEO implant

On Monday 13 July 2026, neurosurgeons at Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University performed the first commercial implantation of Neuracle's NEO brain-computer interface in a male patient with tetraplegia from a decade-old cervical spinal cord injury. The device is coin-sized, epidural, battery-free, and drives a pneumatic glove for hand grasping. Neuracle NEO is the world's first commercial invasive brain-computer interface implant for motor restoration in paralysis, following NMPA Class III market approval on 13 March 2026.

Jul 16

Policy & Regulation

Beijing Tiantan Hospital seeds Xizang's first plateau BCI centre at Lhasa People's Hospital

Xinhua reported on 9 July 2026 that Xizang (Tibet Autonomous Region)'s first plateau brain-computer interface clinical application centre was inaugurated at Lhasa People's Hospital. A medical assistance team from Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, introduced the non-invasive EEG-based BCI technology, which drives exoskeleton and robotic-arm actuators for motor rehabilitation. The centre sits within a six-year Tiantan-Lhasa department-support partnership dating to 2020, and targets cerebral haemorrhage, cerebral ischemia, TBI, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury indications.

Jul 10

Market Moves

CNBC profiles BrainCo as the Hangzhou non-invasive BCI leader runs up to its Hong Kong IPO

CNBC published a video interview by China reporter Elaine Yu with Nyx He, Partner and Senior Vice President at BrainCo, on 10 July 2026. The interview lands six months after BrainCo confidentially filed for a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing on 12 January 2026 with CICC and UBS Group AG as arrangers, and six months after the company closed a ¥2 billion (approximately US$286 million) financing round co-led by IDG Capital and Walden International on 8 January 2026. BrainCo is one of Hangzhou's Six Little Dragons alongside DeepSeek, Unitree Robotics, Game Science, DEEP Robotics, and Manycore Tech.

Jul 10

Policy & Regulation

Beijing names Changfazhan its first BCI incubation platform under the Future Industry programme

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology announced on 1 July 2026, with English release on 7 July, that the Changfazhan Brain Science and Brain-Computer Interface Incubation Platform in Changping district has been designated as one of seven newly recognised Future Industry Incubation Platforms, the first BCI-specific platform under that specific programme. Shanghai municipal science commission director Luo Dajin separately claimed on 6 July that Shanghai hosted nearly 60 per cent of China's BCI financing events, 40 per cent of the disclosed funding amount, and one-third of the country's BCI companies in the first half of 2026.

Jul 7

Policy & Regulation

China's NMPA locks BCI device classification: every implant is Class III, one narrow Class II lane

China's National Medical Products Administration issued Announcement No. 24 (2026) on 29 June 2026, releasing final Guiding Principles for the Classification and Definition of Brain-Computer Interface Medical Device Products plus a companion Generic Naming Guidelines. Every invasive BCI is Class III. Non-invasive BCIs are Class III by default. Non-invasive stroke-motor rehabilitation devices are Class II only if they do not incorporate artificial intelligence.

Jul 4

Market Moves

Gestala closes US$62 million Angel+ round for ultrasound BCI, opens Shanghai NeuroAI headquarters

Gestala (格式塔科技), a Chinese non-invasive ultrasound brain-computer interface company led by founder and CEO Phoenix Peng, announced on 3 July 2026 that it had closed a US$62 million Angel+ financing round and formally opened a Shanghai NeuroAI headquarters. The company is the third Chinese ultrasound BCI startup to disclose funding within ten days, alongside Sisen Technology (1 July 2026) and Huachao Shenkong.

Jul 3

Market Moves

China and South Korea have shipped three BCI industrial-policy launches in eight weeks

Between 1 May and 19 June 2026, three operational state-backed brain-computer interface moves landed across China and South Korea. China State Council Order No. 818 took effect on 1 May 2026, opening a parallel commercial pathway for advanced biomedical technologies that names BCI explicitly. Tianjin formally inaugurated a dedicated BCI industrial cluster with 100 million yuan in annual funding on 29 May 2026. South Korea launched its first national BCI industry association in Seoul on 16 June 2026, anchored to the K-Moonshot strategic R&D mission. Three dated, named, primary-sourced moves in eight weeks across two jurisdictions.

Jun 21

Industry News

China livestreams a brain implant: Beinao-1 goes live

Hundreds of specialists watched Beijing Tiantan Hospital implant Beinao-1, China's 128-channel semi-invasive brain-computer interface, in a young man paralysed in a scooter accident — part of a clinical ramp that is closing on Neuralink's implant count at roughly 1% of its price.

Apr 14