China approves new standards for BCI-enabled medical devices to boost industry development

BCI devices are on display at the 2nd China Brain-Computer Interfaces Conference held in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province on November 16, 2024. (Zhang Weilan/GT)

China's brain-computer interface (BCI) sector has witnessed a series of policy initiatives aimed at accelerating the development of the BCI industry chain.

On Tuesday, the National Medical Products Administration announced the approval of new industry standards for medical devices with BCI technology, in a bid to promote the high-quality development of these devices.

BCI refers to the establishment of communication and control channels for direct interaction between the human brain and external devices.

According to the announcement, the accuracy and reliability of electroencephalogram datasets usually directly impact the performance of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The move is expected to advance the integration of BCI technology and AI within the medical field.

In recent years, BCI technology has gradually been applied in various fields, including healthcare, industrial safety, education, sports, and smart lifestyles, Lyu Baoliang, a professor from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

He said that with increasing policy support and market demand, companies have begun to develop core technologies such as BCI electrodes, chips, and algorithms.

With the aging trend of the population and the increasing number of patients with neurological disorders, BCI technology is increasingly in demand in the fields of healthcare and rehabilitation fields, Lyu said. The demand for using BCI to enhance the quality of life among healthy people is also on the rise, creating a vast potential market.

For example, products like wearable BCI devices and BCI-enabled intelligent robots for rehabilitation are being developed to address conditions like strokes, spinal cord injuries and dementia, Lyu said.

Since the beginning of 2025, tech departments in cities like Beijing and Shanghai have been actively releasing action plans for the development of BCI technology, focusing on regulatory policies, clinical trials and industrial chain development.

Beijing has unveiled an action plan for accelerating BCI innovation (2025-30). It aims to cultivate three to five globally influential BCI tech leaders and more than 100 specialized small and medium-sized enterprises by 2030.

Shanghai also announced its BCI future industry development plan (2025-30), which aims to achieve high-quality BCI performance by 2030, with BCI products fully implemented in clinical applications, the Xinhua News Agency reported on February 6.

These initiatives reflect China's commitment to leveraging policy support and market forces to expand the application scenarios of BCI, positioning itself as a key player in the global BCI market, according to Lyu.