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Inside BCI

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Tag: China

43 articles

Industry News

Tianjin University releases a 3-gram brain-signal recorder that sits hidden in the hair

Tianjin University's Haihe Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interaction and Human-Machine Integration and its partner Shengong Diting (Tianjin) Technology announced the Shengong Xumi Brain Cube on 30 September 2026, a non-invasive EEG device weighing 3 grams and measuring about 2 cubic centimetres, with electrodes, circuitry, battery and wireless link in one unit fixed to the scalp among the hair. It records at 1,000 samples a second for 8 to 10 hours, and its developers call it the smallest and lightest non-invasive brain-computer interface system yet made. The lab says it is building safety management models around the device for workers in China's licensed high-risk trades, with guidance from special-operations and emergency-management departments. China's national BCI plan names hazardous materials, nuclear, mining and power as industries to pilot the technology first.

Oct 4

Industry News

NeuroXess participant uses his brain implant to steer AI from sketch to 3D-printed figurine

NeuroXess (脑虎科技), the Shanghai brain-computer interface developer, disclosed on 30 September 2026 that a man with a C4 spinal cord injury, implanted in April 2026 with its fully implanted, fully wireless Triple-Full system, used it to draw a sketch and enter prompts, from which a large AI model generated design options and one was 3D-printed as a figurine. Using AI smart glasses and NeuroXess's XessOS software, he also adjusted his hospital bed and switched lights and household devices by confirming his intent. NeuroXess describes the work as clinical exploration and released no speed or accuracy figures. The Triple-Full system is in a registration trial led at Huashan Hospital that began on 7 July 2026, with an estimated 32 participants and primary completion estimated for 30 January 2027, and entered the National Medical Products Administration's innovative device review in July.

Oct 2

Market Moves

Neuracle has sold 13 brain implants at a listed RMB 475,000 each since July

Neuracle Technology (Shanghai) (博睿康), maker of China's first approved invasive brain-computer interface, has sold 13 NEO-ONE SCI implant systems and implanted 8 since its first commercial sale in July 2026, with more than 70 more in firm and intended orders. The system is listed at RMB 475,000 per set on procurement platforms in 27 provinces and is not covered by any basic medical insurance catalogue. Neuracle made the figures public on 29 September 2026 in its answers to the Shanghai Stock Exchange's first round of questions on its STAR Market listing application, 110 days after the application was accepted. First-half 2026 revenue was RMB 46.3 million, almost all from its non-invasive business and none from the implant, with a net loss of RMB 65.5 million. No listing committee meeting has been scheduled. None of the best-known Western developers of implanted BCIs, Neuralink, Synchron, Precision Neuroscience, Paradromics and Blackrock Neurotech, is publicly listed.

Oct 1

Policy & Regulation

Chinese Academy of Sciences names brain-computer interfaces a priority field in its 2026 to 2030 plan

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China's top state research body, announced on 28 September 2026 that it had released its 15th Five-Year development plan covering 2026 to 2030. The plan lists brain-computer interfaces among its 'important priority fields' (重要优先领域), alongside integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, quantum science and technology, life sciences and biotechnology, and controlled nuclear fusion. CAS will organise research around a '3+4+X' regional layout with Shanghai as one of three strategic highlands, and will explore forming field-based research consortia, mission-based task forces and platform-based facility clusters across its institutes. CAS already runs its own invasive BCI programme: a system developed at its Shanghai Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) was implanted in its first trial participant at Huashan Hospital in March 2025, and StairMed, founded by CEBSIT researcher Zhao Zhengtuo, entered the National Medical Products Administration's innovative device green channel in November 2025 with a market target of around 2028. CAS was one of the seven co-signatories of the 2025 BCI industry implementation opinions. The plan lands six days after Premier Li Qiang inspected BCI products in Shanghai and called future industries a blue ocean for advanced manufacturing. No BCI budget, programme names or milestones have been made public.

Sep 30

Market Moves

BCI-Sonics closes RMB 200 million Pre-A led by HongShan and Yunqi Partners

Shanghai-headquartered non-invasive brain-computer interface company BCI-Sonics closed a RMB 200 million (~USD 28 million) Pre-A financing round on Tuesday 22 September 2026, co-led by HongShan (the post-2023 rebrand of Sequoia China under Neil Shen) and Yunqi Partners. New participants included Proxima Capital, Oriza Holdings, Shanghai's Xuhui Sci-Tech Innovation Investment, and Moral Stone Investment. Existing investors Matrix Partners China (MPCi) and Delian Capital followed on. Xunguang Capital served as exclusive financial advisor. Total capital raised since 2025 founding is roughly RMB 300 million. The company was founded by Dr. Li Xin, formerly Head of GE Global Research Center China and a joint PhD graduate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Fraunhofer IGD in Germany. BCI-Sonics' modality is low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS/LIFU) for brain stimulation, paired with a multimodal reading system combining functional ultrasound (fUS), EEG, fMRI and PET, and passive cavitation detection for safety monitoring. Three product lines are in development: a Research toolchain for neuroscience labs (unveiled at CNS 2026 in September), a Clinical portfolio targeting pain, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, addiction, sleep, and ultrasound-mediated blood-brain-barrier opening for CNS drug delivery, and a Technology/Consumer wearable BCI terminal for sleep, focus and emotion. Closed-loop ultrasound BCI clinical trials are scheduled to enter Q1 2027. The Pre-A closed the same day Premier Li Qiang inspected BCI products in Shanghai and directed the establishment of future-industry investment-growth and risk-sharing mechanisms and 'patient capital' (耐心资本) expansion.

Sep 24

Policy & Regulation

Chinese Premier Li Qiang publicly names brain-computer interfaces a 'blue ocean' on a Shanghai inspection tour

China's Premier Li Qiang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, spent Tuesday 22 September 2026 on a Shanghai inspection tour of two innovation venues. At the second, the Shanghai Future Kick-off Community (上海未来启点社区) sci-tech innovation and incubation platform for future industries, he inspected technology products in two named categories: brain-computer interfaces and quantum computing. He then framed future industries as 'a potential blue ocean for advanced manufacturing' (先进制造业发展的潜在蓝海). Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining and State Council Secretary-General Wu Zhenglong accompanied the tour. The remarks operationalise General Secretary Xi Jinping's prior directive on advanced manufacturing and the spirit of the National Conference on Advanced Manufacturing. The visit lands Li Qiang's on-record inspection of BCI products above the March 2026 Government Work Report first-mention, above the 15th Five-Year Plan naming of BCI as a future industry (CPC 4th Plenum, 20 to 23 October 2025), and above the seven-ministry BCI Implementation Opinions of July 2025. The venue itself is not disclosed to have featured named Chinese BCI operators. Shanghai's Minhang District already hosts the country's first BCI industry cluster at Brain Intelligence World, which by mid-2026 housed 61 BCI companies, roughly 30 percent of the national BCI operator field.

Sep 23

Policy & Regulation

China issues a medical-device standard for AI processing of EEG data in brain-computer interfaces

China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has issued what state news agency Xinhua characterises as the world's first medical-device standard covering AI-processed electroencephalogram (EEG) data in brain-computer interfaces, announced on 14 September 2026. The standard was drafted by the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) under an expedited procedure and becomes effective on 1 September 2027. Scope: quality requirements and evaluation methods for EEG datasets used by AI algorithms in BCI medical devices, covering collection, processing, annotation, storage, and access across R&D, production, and quality-control stages. Named NMPA and NIFDC officials: Yuan Peng (Deputy Director, NMPA Department of Medical Device Registration), Li Shu (Deputy Director, NIFDC medical device institute), Zheng Jia (Deputy Director, NIFDC Institute for Medical Device Standardization). This is the third BCI-related medical-device standard issued by China in twelve months, following 2025 standards on BCI terminology and on test methods for implantable closed-loop neural stimulators. The US FDA has no BCI-specific AI/EEG data-quality standard. The EU has no BCI-specific standard, only horizontal AI Act coverage of medical BCI as high-risk. On the narrow AI-EEG-BCI slice, China's world-first framing holds up.

Sep 17

Market Moves

Three Chinese BCI operators are in the IPO queue at once

Three Chinese brain-computer interface operators are simultaneously moving through IPO processes on two exchanges. Neuracle Medical Technology (博睿康技术（上海）股份有限公司) is the leader: its Shanghai STAR Market prospectus was accepted 11 June 2026 with a planned RMB 2.5 billion (~US$345M) raise. Neuracle received China's first commercial invasive BCI approval from NMPA in March 2026 (NEO-ONE SCI for spinal cord injury). BrainCo (强脑科技) filed a confidential Hong Kong Exchange application in January 2026 (joint sponsors CICC and UBS), with the September 2026 pricing calendar showing no imminent hearing. Arfysica Innovation (术理创新), led by female founder Wang Wei, registered STAR Market pre-IPO tutoring in early September 2026 with Huatai United Securities, entering the pipeline three months behind Neuracle at the earliest stage. Neuracle's disclosed prospectus reveals RMB 108 million 2025 revenue, all from non-invasive EEG systems, with the NEO invasive product still at zero commercial revenue and 32 patients implanted by end-2025.

Sep 14

Policy & Regulation

Plexon settles $1.7M US export case for shipping brain-recording equipment to China's People's Liberation Army

The US Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced on 14 August 2026 an administrative enforcement settlement with Dallas, Texas neural-instrumentation maker Plexon, Inc. over eight unlicensed exports between 10 February 2022 and 30 August 2023 to the Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS), the People's Liberation Army's biomedical research arm and a party on the BIS Entity List since December 2021. The shipments comprised eight OmniPlex Neural Recording Data Acquisition Systems and accessories, valued at approximately US$178,721. The civil penalty is US$1.7 million, suspended in full for five years contingent on Plexon completing an external export-compliance audit and committing no further violations. AMMS was added to the Entity List in part for supporting Chinese military end uses including 'purported brain-control weaponry.' The settlement is the first BIS enforcement action publicly involving commercial brain-computer interface research instrumentation, and lands eight years after BIS's November 2018 emerging-technology framework flagged BCI and AI for brain modeling as candidate export-control categories.

Sep 11

Market Moves

NMPA clears Tiankai Suishi's non-invasive EEG cap for cognitive-impairment diagnosis

China's National Medical Products Administration approved a non-invasive EEG-cap diagnostic device made by Tianjin-based Tiankai Suishi Intelligent Technology on 19 August 2026 for assessing cognitive impairment. The device sits in the diagnostic tier of China's growing brain-computer interface pipeline: Class II non-invasive rather than the Class III invasive category cleared by Neuracle in March 2026. Tiankai Suishi is a Tianjin University-linked startup founded 2023, led by Gu Bin, with a depression-diagnosis product also filed with NMPA. The approval extends China's Industrial Builder posture from a single invasive-BCI flagship into diagnostic-device territory anchored on the country's ageing-population indications: Alzheimer's, schizophrenia-linked cognitive dysfunction, and depression.

Sep 3

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

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

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

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