BrainCo Founder Han Bicheng: Brain-Computer Interfaces Rapidly Entering Consumer Markets

(ECNS) -- October 25 (by reporter Chang Tao) "In China, advancements in core technologies such as neural signal decoding, wearable sensors, and AI algorithms are enabling brain-computer interfaces to rapidly enter consumer-level applications—including sleep regulation, attention training, cognitive rehabilitation, and immersive interaction." Han Bicheng, founder of BrainCo, told ECNS.

Zheng Shanjie, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced on October 24 that the "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Proposal") proposed to make forward-looking arrangements for future industries, promoting quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications to become new economic growth points. These industries are poised to take off, and in the next 10 years, they will recreate a high-tech industry in China.

Han Bicheng stated that the inclusion of brain-computer interfaces in the future industry's forward-looking layout in the "Recommendations" is expected to systematically improve the R&D funding, standard systems, and clinical transformation pathways in this field, promoting the deep integration of brain science, artificial intelligence, rehabilitation medicine, and intelligent hardware.

"The continuous release of policy signals means that brain-computer interface technology will become one of the core supports to drive the leap in high-end manufacturing, intelligent rehabilitation, and digital health," said Han Bicheng.

Combining practice, Han Bicheng stated that from the perspective of application trends, the boundaries of brain-computer interfaces are constantly being expanded. The earliest applications of brain-computer interfaces were concentrated in the field of medical rehabilitation, such as nerve damage repair, prosthetic control, and stroke rehabilitation. Today, this direction remains the main area for clinical implementation. Meanwhile, brain-computer interfaces are also rapidly entering consumer-level scenarios.

"In the future, brain-computer interfaces will no longer be regarded as a single technology but will become the underlying foundation supporting innovations across multiple fields such as education and training, psychological rehabilitation, and smart offices. Their integration with AI, sensors, neuroscience, and wearable devices will form a new cross-disciplinary ecosystem, driving the gradual establishment of a complete closed loop of 'understanding the brain—feeding back to the brain—empowering life.'" In Han Bicheng's view, with continuous support from national policies, an increasingly sophisticated research system, and accelerated investment by companies, brain-computer interfaces are transitioning from scientific exploration to large-scale applications, forming a vast market ranging from medical rehabilitation to intelligent hardware.

Now, with the help of BrainCo's intelligent bionic hand, people with disabilities can easily achieve "playing musical instruments, chess, calligraphy, and painting" with their thoughts, and even rock climbing and playing ball games.

Han Bicheng believes that in the future, brain-computer interfaces will not only help humans restore lost physiological functions but also expand the ways in which the brain interacts with the external world — from controlling machines, regulating emotions, to assisting in learning, brain-computer interfaces will become a crucial interface technology for human-machine integration. "With the popularization of non-invasive devices and the continuous evolution of AI algorithms, the barrier to using this technology will be significantly reduced, allowing it to enter everyday scenarios such as homes, education, work, and entertainment, driving a new wave of industrial transformation."

From a long-term perspective, Han Bicheng believes that the ultimate significance of developing brain-computer interfaces lies not only in "making machines understand humans" but also in "helping humans understand themselves better." He summarized the latter into three aspects: "human and self," "human and technology," and "human and society."

At the medical level, brain-computer interfaces will provide entirely new solutions for neurological diseases and physical disabilities that have long plagued humanity. By achieving neural function reconstruction, diagnosis of disorders of consciousness, intervention in depression and Parkinson’s disease, and control of prosthetics and exoskeletons through brain-computer interfaces, humans now possess, for the first time, the technical ability to "directly repair brain functions." This will not only significantly improve the quality of life for people with disabilities but also reshape the service systems of rehabilitation medicine, mental health, and aging societies.

At the technological and industrial levels, brain-computer interfaces will address the bottleneck issue of "human-computer interaction efficiency." Traditional interactions rely on language, vision, and movement, whereas brain-computer interfaces can directly read brainwave signals and recognize intentions, enabling more natural and efficient human-computer collaboration. This means that from intelligentRobotFrom virtual reality to intelligent manufacturing and smart offices, future interaction methods will no longer be limited to "input-output," but will enter the phase of "co-sensing and collaboration," providing critical support for new forms such as embodied intelligence and AI decision-making systems.

At the social and humanistic level, brain-computer interfaces will also drive humanity to rethink its understanding of itself. It enables people to more intuitively perceive psychological states such as emotions, focus, and stress, and to regulate them through feedback, offering new solutions for mental health, education and training, and brain function enhancement. In the longer term, this technology will promote "brain health" as an essential component of the public health system, extending from individual well-being to the overall cognitive health and innovation capacity of society.

(China News Service Jingwei App)

Editor: Xue Yufei, Li Zhongyuan