China’s future tech race with US set for a boost with new Fudan brain chip centre

Fudan University’s US$56 million facility in Shanghai comes as China pushes disruptive technology among ‘new quality productive forces’

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Brain-computer interface technology’s revolutionary potential in the medical and healthcare industry includes restoring a sense of sight for the blind and mobility for paralysed patients. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:00am, 6 Aug 2024

A leading Chinese university has set up a research centre for brain-computer interface (BCI), a technology that gives humans the ability to control external devices such as computers or robotic limbs with their minds.

The 400 million yuan (US$56 million) facility at Fudan University comes as China continues to push the development of disruptive technology amid a race for tech supremacy with the United States, a long-time leader in BCI research.

Launched last Saturday, the university’s Neuromodulation and BCI Research Centre is expected to drive innovation for the technology’s revolutionary potential in the medical and healthcare industry – such as restoring a sense of sight for the blind and mobility for paralysed patients.

According to the centre’s deputy director, Shu Yousheng, industrialisation of innovative BCI has been held back by the lack of technical support from other disciplines.

The new research centre aimed to bridge the gap between brain disease research and industry, the public university in Shanghai said on its website.

The centre represented a systemic integration of Fudan’s brain science-related resources, and expected to power the clinical application and industrialisation of BCI, it said.