BCI — the next frontier for high-tech business

Not to be outdone, China is ramping up investments in BCI research and innovation. In May, a team from Nankai University, led by Professor Duan Feng, announced they have completed the world's first interventional BCI experiment in nonhuman primates.

Gao Xiaorong, a tenured professor at Tsinghua University, said: "The current Chinese market is dominated by noninvasive BCI companies, accounting for more than 85 percent, involving education, entertainment and other industries, while invasive brain-computer interface devices are mainly in the medical industry. The US counterparts are more advanced in invasive ones."

In invasive BCI, the sensors are implanted inside the brain in order to increase the information that is being extracted. In contrast, noninvasive BCI is relatively safer and easy to implement but has limited capacity in replacing or enhancing the lost bodily functions, Gao said.

Startup Neurohua in China has developed noninvasive BCI devices. Through an electronic hood, multiple indicators in fatigue, concentration and sobriety can be monitored and data communicated to back-end equipment for reminders.

Tang Zaixi, founder of Neurohua, said: "Such a technology has already been used in sectors with high risks, so that real-time reminders can be generated for safety and avoid hidden dangers caused by fatigue of staff during operations."

Such BCI equipment and technology have already been used in the subway construction of Line 13 of Beijing Metro and will be further used during the construction of highways in China's Tibet autonomous region soon.

Besides Neurohua, several Chinese companies have been active in the sector, mostly focused on noninvasive niches. Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings established a dedicated BCI research division, while NeuraMatrix and BrainCo are developing their own BCI products and solutions.

Such active participation can be traced to 2019, when the Chinese government announced a $4.5 billion investment in a new neuroscience research center, to focus on BCI and other cutting-edge technologies.