Huashan Hospital and BrainCo Complete China's First Fully Implantable, Battery-Integrated Brain-Computer Interface in Human

Including the first implantation of the latest fully implantable device, NeuroXess has completed 54 human implants of brain-computer interfaces so far. Next year, it will complete the registration for formal clinical trials, accelerating the commercial launch of related brain-computer interface products.

On December 13, a reporter from the First Financial learned at the annual meeting of the Brain-Computer Interface and Interaction Branch of the Chinese Neuroscience Society that NeuroXess, a product developed by Shanghai-based NeuroXess with a built-in battery for fully implanted brain-computer interface, had recently completed the first patient implantation at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University.

According to the reporter, there are currently very few companies worldwide that have mastered and validated the fully implantable solution with a built-in battery. NeuroXess is the first Chinese company, apart from tech billionaire Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink, to provide such devices. This not only fills the technical gap in this field in China but also marks that China’s brain-computer interface technology has reached the top tier globally.

Patient Has Achieved "Mind Control"

Professor Mao Ying, president of Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University, told the First Financial Journal that the first implant patient was operated on based on strict ethical approval. The patient is a high-level paraplegic who cannot move anything below the shoulders. The patient was transferred to a general ward one day after the surgery, and five days after the surgery, the device was successfully activated for the first time, achieving mind control. After systematic training, in standard tests, the brain-controlled decoding rate reached 5.2BPS, reaching the top international level of brain decoding.

NeuroXess Founder and Chief Scientist Tao Hu told the First Financial News that the latest implanted brain-computer interface product features "full implantation, full wireless, and full functionality." Previous brain-computer interface products often required the battery module to be exposed outside the skull. NeuroXess has solved this technical challenge by fully implanting the core module containing the battery inside the body, integrating wireless power supply and wireless data transmission functions. This allows patients to use the device without being tethered to external equipment, with no cables or interfaces on the body surface, and physically eliminating the risk of infection commonly associated with traditional exposed systems.

Specifically, NeuroXess innovatively places the battery module under the skin of the chest and optimizes the mature deep brain stimulation (DBS) technology architecture. This design moves the heating unit away from the brain and implants it under the skin of the chest, which is more tolerant to temperature, thereby enhancing the safety of the system.

"This means that during postoperative rehabilitation and daily life, patients can achieve real-time interaction of thoughts without connecting or wearing any external devices, truly gaining wireless freedom of movement," Tao Hu told the First Financial News.

Tao Hu also introduced that, including the first implantation of the latest fully implanted device, NeuroXess has currently completed 54 human implants of brain-computer interfaces, and will complete the registration for formal clinical trials next year, accelerating the commercial launch process of related brain-computer interface products.

From Lab to Clinic

Brain-computer interface, together with quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communication, has been included in the "future industry" in the "15th Five-Year Plan." The Yangtze River Delta region is also one of the most innovative and active areas in China's brain-computer interface field, gathering numerous pioneering companies, top universities, and Class A tertiary hospitals, forming a complete industrial ecosystem.

Mao Ying pointed out at the 2025 TCCI Brain-Computer Interface and Artificial Intelligence Forum held the other day that brain-computer interface technology is moving from laboratories to clinical applications, achieving tangible results in helping patients with motor dysfunction recover and decoding language signals. In this process, artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces are accelerating their integration and are expected to reshape the future of humanity.

Globally, a significant amount of funding is also flowing into the brain-computer interface sector, accelerating the development of related technologies. Recently, Neuralink Corp, owned by Elon Musk, released a video showing that the time for implanting a single electrode via brain-computer interface has been drastically reduced from 17 seconds to 1.5 seconds, with implantation depth surpassing 50mm, directly reaching a richer set of neurons. This indicates the potential for achieving more precise motor control and sensory feedback in the future.

Neuralink co-founder DJ Seo introduced that it is expected that 20 patients will complete the brain-computer interface implant surgery by the end of the year, while the number of people on the waiting list wanting to connect to the brain-computer interface device exceeds ten thousand.

Experts say that brain-computer interface technology offers a completely new approach for the functional rehabilitation of neurological disorders and spinal cord injuries, but the practical application of the technology still faces core bottlenecks.

Chunlei Shan, Dean of the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, told the First Financial reporter: "How to promote in-depth collaboration between engineering teams and rehabilitation teams, optimize technology guided by real clinical issues, and achieve personalized adaptation of brain-computer interfaces for different conditions and scenarios requires further exploration. Meanwhile, the development of new paradigms based on neural circuit mechanisms (such as brain-computer interfaces specifically for aphasia), clinical translation, and the improvement of supporting research systems and talent cultivation remain key to breaking through the upper limit of the rehabilitative value of brain-computer interfaces."