(Yicai) Dec. 9 -- A wireless minimally invasive brain-computer interface device developed by a team at China’s Tsinghua University and brain-computer interface startup Neuracle Technology will conduct dozens of clinical trials next year in a drive to bring the apparatus a step closer to getting the green light to go to market.

“We plan to implant the NEO device on between 30 and 50 spinal cord injury patients next year, in around 10 centers across China,” Hong Bo, team leader and professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, said at the joint meeting of the Brain-Computer Interface Society and the Chen Tianqiao and Chrissy Institute, a non-profit organization named after Chinese entrepreneur Chen Tianqiao.

Once the trials are completed, the clinical data will be submitted to regulators to apply for the product to go to market, Hong said at the event, which was held in Shanghai from Dec. 6 to 7. It is the first time that a BCI Meeting has been held in Asia in the 25 years since it was founded.

This year, NEO was implanted in three patients. One patient, who was paralyzed four years ago in a car accident, can now control his arms with his mind and perform simple actions such as picking up a cup to drink water, said Mao Yin, dean of Fudan University’s Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, where the operation took place last month.

Scientific research institutions and companies around the world are accelerating clinical trials of brain-computer interface apparatus. Last month, Neuralink, founded by tycoon Elon Musk, said that it has been given the green light to conduct clinical trials in Canada, after completing two human implant surgeries in January and August.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor