China races to develop brain-computer interfaces that can be inserted in 10 minutes

The technology – which allows patients to control digital devices using their thoughts – can be implanted like a stent in just a few minutes

The Chinese devices – which enable patients to control digital technology using their thoughts alone – can be inserted via a vein like a stent, unlike conventional BCIs that require patients to undergo brain surgery.

StairMed Technology – one of the start-ups involved – “is developing a more minimally invasive way of delivering the device, entering through blood vessels in the neck and guiding it through the vascular system directly into the brain,” said Zhao Zhengtuo, the company’s co-founder, at the Global Health Summit in Hong Kong on Saturday.

The Shanghai-based firm has raised more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$163 million) in funding over the past year to push forward with its research, with investors including the Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

In December, StairMed unveiled the programme – undertaken in partnership with a research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences – to insert BCIs via blood vessel into a targeted region of the brain and anchor them in place outside the vessel wall. So far, it has tested the technique on sheep, but has yet to begin human trials.