This week, China announced its efforts to develop standards for brain-computer implants (BCI) akin to Elon Musk’s Neuralink. The country hopes to close the Western technology gap in brain-computer interface technology and its ongoing competition with the United States.
With the goal of creating pioneering new guidelines and standards, The People’s Republic Of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it plans to create a committee to oversee the development, along with releasing a plan on how the work will commence.
A Bloomberg report conveyed that, to date, technical experts and companies, research institutes, universities, and other parallel industries will provide feedback and guidelines to help develop standards of practice.
In a bid to compete with the Western world, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set July 30 as the deadline for Chinese residents to contribute and submit ideas for the committee’s formation. The focus is on addressing the needs of industrial development and industry management.
The newly formed committee will play a pivotal role in setting standards for brain information acquisition, preprocessing, encoding and decoding, data communication, and data visualization. It will also extend its influence into the public healthcare space, drafting and revising standards for education, healthcare, consumer electronics, and clinical applications.
China’s New Brain-Computer Interface: Another Neuralink?
On April 25 of this year, a new Chinese BCI implant called the Neucyber was announced and crafted by Beijing Xinzhida Neurotechnology. Like Neuralink, the new implant was initially tested with a monkey, which was able to control its thoughts with a robotic arm.
The local People’s Republic Of China media outlet Xinhua said the technology was “independently developed” and China’s first “high-performance invasive BCI.”
The Beijing municipal government’s state asset regulator, Qichacha, is the controlling shareholder of Xinzhida Neurotechnology.
Although neither the scientists nor Xinhua referenced Musk’s brain-chip startup, the introduction of this new product at the annual tech-focused Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing clearly displays China’s ambitions to create technologies comparable to Musk’s Neuralink.
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and founder of VOCAB Communications. She hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on The Debrief’s YouTube Channel. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton and at chrissynewton.com.