A concept image of brain-computer interface Photo: VCG

China will take brain-computer interface (BCI) as an important direction in developing future industry, and the country has formed an entire industry chain covering basic (research), technological and application layers, with applications already launched in such fields as medicine, education, industry and entertainment, said Zhao Zhiguo, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), on Monday.

The comment was made at a forum during the ongoing 2023 Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum themed "Brainstorming Group Wisdom, Insight Into Opportunities." 

Industry observers said China's development of the BCI sector is at an advanced level, but gaps persist with the world's leading players in terms of invasive BCI technology and algorithms. It's anticipated that the country could gradually catch up with foreign competitors with joint inputs from government departments and industry-university-research cooperation.

"China has been proactively pushing for BCI industry development. The country has made breakthroughs in key BCI projects and nurtured a number of leading BCI innovative enterprises. It also has built a BCI industrial alliance with more than 100 members across the industrial chain," Zhao said during the forum.

According to Zhao, China also places emphasis on the formation of standards. The MIIT supports enterprises and public institutions to take the lead in drawing up BCI international standards, and it has led the establishment of a technical committee that lays a solid foundation for BCI research standardization, Zhao noted. 

Industry insiders at the forum hailed a recent groundbreaking development in BCI. Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, on Thursday obtained official approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct BCI clinical trials on humans.

"It shows that the development of BCI has ushered in a new era," Zhang Ping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said at the forum. 

Industry observers said that in terms of BCI technology, which will be key in the next round of technological revolution, Chinese companies and US companies, represented by Neuralink, have advantages in different areas. 

A manager at a Chinese BCI device company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Global Times that while Neuralink has a clear edge in invasive BCI technology thanks to an early start, China excels in non-invasive technology, as it is a forerunner in decoding and brain-computer system applications.

"China also has an overwhelming edge in BCI-related big data platforms, whereas more efforts are required in optimizing algorithms," Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

In addition to invasive and non-invasive technology, another main technology involving BCI is interventional BCI, a sector where China excels against rivals. 

In early May, the world's first interventional BCI experiment in non-human primates was successfully completed in Beijing, which industry insiders said could be a great chance to catch up with foreign competitors.

While enhancing the innovation capacity of homegrown BCI technology is of strategic importance, observers also stressed the urgent need to address the technology's challenges on the security and ethical fronts. 

Zhao said that the ministry is studying system building, ethics and legislation requirements, and is accelerating the creation of a classified ethical management system for medical care and education.