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Policy & Regulation

China puts brain-computer interfaces on the 15th Five-Year Plan 'future industry' list

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology named brain-computer interfaces among six future industries in a State Council Information Office press conference on 26 August 2026, alongside quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, embodied intelligence, and 6G. Retail News Asia reports MIIT's draft standards roadmap targets more than 40 BCI national standards by 2028 and more than 80 brain-tech standards by 2030, though the specific count is single-sourced and should be attributed accordingly.

Aug 27, 2026 · 4 min read

Industry News

China unveils uMR Shenguan, an MRI-integrated closed-loop BCI platform

Tianjin University and Shanghai-listed United Imaging Healthcare (688271.SS) jointly unveiled uMR Shenguan on 23 August 2026 in Tianjin, described by the developer team as a full-stack MRI-integrated brain-computer interface framework. The system is designed to combine neural signal capture, decoding, modulation, and evaluation within a single MRI-based closed loop across 3T and 5T United Imaging systems. Named clinical verticals: motor rehabilitation, neuro-critical care, psychiatry, ophthalmology, and audiology.

Aug 27 · 4 min read

Industry News

Paradromics wins FDA approval to connect its Connexus BCI to personal laptops, tablets and phones inside Connect-One

Paradromics announced on 26 August 2026 that the US Food and Drug Administration has issued an approval letter expanding the types of computing devices that may be used with its Connexus brain-computer interface inside the Connect-One Early Feasibility Study. Compatible personal, internet-connected devices (laptops, tablets, phones) can now be added into the study without a per-device FDA approval. Paradromics also identified a second patient for the feasibility study, and its first patient has progressed to closed-loop stage.

Aug 26 · 4 min read

Policy & Regulation

Türkiye's NOROM joins NATO's DIANA test network as an alliance-tier neurotechnology centre

Türkiye's Council of Higher Education announced on 23 August 2026 that the Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Center of Excellence Joint Application and Research Center (NOROM) has been admitted to NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) test network. NOROM is a joint centre between Gazi University, Ankara University and Middle East Technical University (METU), founded in 2023. Scope covers brain-computer interfaces, cognitive performance assessment, brain imaging, neuromodulation, robotic systems, and AI-assisted signal analysis. It is Türkiye's first and only DIANA test centre in the fields of neuroscience and neurotechnology.

Aug 24 · 4 min read

Industry News

ABILITY Neurotech opens Munich intraoperative BCI trial

Geneva-based ABILITY Neurotech has run a first-in-human intraoperative trial of its fully implantable brain-computer interface at TUM University Hospital in Munich, with up to five brain tumour surgery patients recorded over 20 to 30 minute sessions. A chronic ALS implant with UMC Utrecht and TU Graz is scheduled for Q4 2026. The device is an ECoG surface-electrode implant powered inductively through the scalp, using a laser-based optical link to move raw high-bandwidth neural data through intact skin, not an optical neural-sensing BCI.

Aug 22 · 4 min read

Market Moves

Bill Ackman commits $400 million to a new brain research institute after his daughter's brain haemorrhage

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and designer Neri Oxman announced the Ackman Oxman Institute (AOI) on 19-20 August 2026, seeded with $400 million in Pershing Square Inc. stock and a stated further commitment of similar or greater size in a form other than Pershing Square stock. The institute focuses on brain research, rehabilitation, longevity, and human optimization, with Mount Sinai as an important clinical partner. Ackman cited Neuralink, Precision Neuroscience, Synchron, Science Corp and Nudge as examples of the BCI field the institute will engage with, without claiming direct equity in any of them.

Aug 22 · 3 min read

Policy & Regulation

The White House re-shelved brain-computer interfaces under 'Future Computing'

The Office of Science and Technology Policy released its National Security Science and Technology Strategy on 19 August 2026, narrowing the Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET) list from 18 domains to 14. Brain-computer interfaces were moved from the retired 'Human-Machine Interfaces' category into 'Future Computing Technologies'. Neurotechnologies were separately moved into 'Biotechnology'. In parallel, US Bureau of Industry and Security enforcement is running through the existing Entity List rather than a BCI-specific export rule: Dallas-based neuroscience equipment manufacturer Plexon accepted a $1.7 million suspended civil penalty for unlicensed exports to Entity-Listed parties in China. BIS's 2021 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on BCI export controls has never been finalised.

Aug 22 · 4 min read

Market Moves

Weiling Medical raises over RMB 100 million for its surface-electrode brain implant

Shenzhen's Weiling Medical Technology closed a new funding round of over RMB 100 million on 17 August 2026, led by Junzhong Capital with STAR Market-listed Innotek (688253.SH) as core industrial investor via the Jiaxing Innotek Industrial Fund. Weiling develops a fully implantable, flexible thin-film cortical electrode that sits on the cortical surface rather than penetrating brain tissue. A first-in-human implant in Guangdong in mid-June 2026 was reported by the company to restore forearm and wrist movement in the left upper limb of a locked-in syndrome patient.

Aug 20 · 3 min read

Research

DARPA's Firefox programme wants a 100-channel non-invasive brain-computer interface

DARPA has opened its Firefox programme, run out of the Biological Technologies Office by program manager Dr Pedro Irazoqui, targeting a coherent-optical non-invasive brain-computer interface at 100 channels with 50-micron spatial and 100-microsecond temporal resolution. The stated goal is to replace surgically implanted electrodes. Proposers Day is 1 September 2026, registration closes 21 August. Firefox appears to follow directly from the coherent-optical track first funded under DARPA's N3 program at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in 2019.

Aug 20 · 4 min read