Shanghai Issues “Brain-Computer Interface Industry Cultivation Plan”: Helping Blind Patients Partially Restore Their Visual Ability by 2030
On January 10th, Shanghai officially issued the “Shanghai Brain-Computer Interface Future Industry Cultivation Action Plan (2025-2030)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Action Plan”). The Action Plan points out that high-quality brain control will be achieved by 2027, and high-quality control of the brain by 2030.
The Action Plan focuses on medical-grade scenarios and strategic products, promotes the integration of brain-computer interface and embodied intelligence and other frontier technologies in artificial intelligence, and accelerates the application of invasive and semi-invasive brain-computer interface technologies and products. It encourages the application of non-invasive brain-computer interface technology in rehabilitation training, education and entertainment, intelligent life, production and manufacturing, etc.
According to the Action Plan, by 2027, high-quality brain control will be achieved. The semi-invasive brain-computer interface products will be the first to achieve clinical application in China, and the research on invasive brain-computer interfaces will make breakthroughs. The brain-computer interface innovation ecosystem will be initially constructed. More than 5 types of invasive and semi-invasive brain-computer interface products will complete medical device type inspections and clinical trials, targeting patients with aphasia and paralysis to restore some language and motor functions. Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces will generate a number of new businesses, applications, models, and new formats, creating medical rehabilitation products and consumer-level popular applications. More than 5 independent innovation enterprises with core brain-computer interface technology and product development capabilities and more than 10 core enterprises in the industry chain will be cultivated. Standards and specifications for brain-computer interface products and detection evaluation will be formed.
By 2030, high-quality control of the brain will be achieved. Brain-computer interface products will be fully applied in clinical practice, creating a global innovation hub for brain-computer interface products. A series of invasive and semi-invasive brain-computer interface products will enter the medical device registration and approval stage, helping blind patients partially restore their visual abilities; helping paralyzed patients partially restore their tactile perception and motor abilities; and providing new treatment methods for refractory epilepsy, severe depression, and other brain diseases. The upstream industrial chain of brain-computer interfaces will be basically localized, realizing the integrated development of brain-computer interfaces, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. A national-level brain-computer interface industrial development agglomeration area will be created, with multiple brain-computer interface enterprises exerting global influence, making the brain-computer interface industry a backbone force in strategic emerging industries.
The Action Plan promotes 17 key tasks from five aspects including accelerating the productization of brain-computer interface, building a common technology research and development service platform, promoting clinical trials and application demonstrations, improving product standards and detection systems, and cultivating industrial innovation ecology, which are all depicted in detail in the following figure:
[Insert Figure: “One-Chart Understanding of Shanghai Brain-Computer Interface Future Industry Cultivation Action Plan (2025-2030)” provided by Shanghai Science and Technology Commission]
