(Yicai) Nov. 28 -- Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group, a Chinese developer of industrial parks, has launched a brain-computer interface partnership program aiming to build the Waigaoqiao core area of the city's pilot free trade zone into an innovation hub for the industry.

The goal of the new initiative is to unite firms, hospitals, and government departments to jointly build a collaborative innovation ecosystem and solve the bottlenecks of BCI technology in clinical trials, cross-border data flow, and market access, Waigaoqiao FTZ announced at the sixth Waigaoqiao Medical Health Cooperation Summit held yesterday.

Shanghai-based StairMed Technology, Guangzhou-based AciMicro Medical, and Xi'an-based NeuroDome were among the first batch of BCI startups to join the program on its first day.

"BCI tech is on the eve of the explosion from the laboratory to clinical applications, and we hope to create an industrial cluster effect through the partnership program to seize the highland of the future industry," said Zhu Yaopeng, general manager of Waigaoqiao FTZ's unit Waigaoqiao Biomedical Industry Development.

Companies that join the program will receive a package of services from Waigaoqiao FTZ, supporting the entire supply chain from research and development to clinical approvals and product exports, the company noted, adding that the first batch of firms will receive additional rental concessions and industrial policy guidance.

StairMed's implantable wireless BCI system is the first invasive brain chip in China to enter the National Medical Products Administration's special review process, or the so-called green channel, for innovative medical devices, an important sign of the industrialization of the technology, said Assistant General Manager Chen Yaoxu.

Based on trial results, StairMed's BCI system can help patients with motor dysfunction regain some of their self-care abilities, Chen noted. China's invasive BCI tech has entered the critical stage of verification and application from laboratory breakthroughs, Chen pointed out.

BCI is a typical interdisciplinary field due to its development being highly dependent on the combination of medicine, science, engineering, and cross-border R&D cooperation, Zhu said, adding that Waigaoqiao FTZ can give full play to the facilitation advantages for the cross-border flow of data and talents to help the industry develop.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev