Chinese start-ups and researchers are racing to bring brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to market that can be implanted in just a few minutes, as Beijing pushes to nurture home-grown players in the sector to compete with Elon Musk's Neuralink.
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.
