Recently, Phoenix Peng, CEO of NeuroXess, was invited to the Healthcare and Life Science Leadership Summit held by China Renaissance. He noted in the forum that NeuroXess, a company born less than one year ago, would target the science market in the first stage. Then in the second stage, hospitals shall be highlighted for targeted medical devices for different indications. Ordinary people would get involved in the final stage, referring to the consumer electronics market. This is the “three five-year” plan of NeuroXess called by Mr. Phoenix Peng.
In 2021, China officially launched the billion RMB scale Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Project, “Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Research”. Currently, China’s Brain Project research has entered the practical implementation phase. As a pioneering technology, BCI has been highly anticipated and favored by investment in recent years. With modern medicine mixing with multiple disciplines and the support of relevant national policies, BCI is moving from basic research to the market, and there are plenty of scenarios in the fields of diagnosis, screening, treatment, and rehabilitation of brain diseases, neurological diseases, and mental system diseases.
“Exploring mysteries of the heart is something that everyone thinks about,” said Mr. Phoenix Peng. That’s the reason why Brain Science has become one of the four great science programs of mankind, following the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, Project Apollo in the 1960s, and the Human Genome Project in the 1990s. From 2010 to date, with plans launched by China and an investment of 50 billion RMB in the next 10 years since last September, Brain Science does not simply rely on BCI to solve all problems, but has lots of technical work to be done.
As “Super Internet Celebrity” Musk has said on many occasions, BCI can, theoretically, repair any brain damage. For his influence in the industry, BCI technology has gained much attention. Mr. Phoenix Peng reckons that, under the spotlight, BCI can only realize breakthroughs with combined upgrades in products, engineering, and processes, and that this is the right attitude towards the field of brain science.
What applications in the field of BCI can be the first to reach the clinical stage?
Mr. Phoenix Peng believes that since BCI has a twenty-year history, all related products are neuromodulatory in nature, including DBS, SCS, and RNS, and thus the application research shall be guided by specific indications. As BCI becomes the focus of attention, we have made great progress at the cognitive level, from visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and other perceptions, and this has been verified by numerous papers. For instance, with the reading of neurons in the motor area above the cortex, it is possible to achieve the synthesis of language and the description of text. Electrode stands can be placed inside vessels to record EEG signals in specific brain areas. These are the proofs of technical breakthroughs in the past five years.
Regarding the commercialization of brain science, Mr. Phoenix Peng held a firm belief that the farther you set your view on, the less anxious you will be about the present.
He has made it clear that despite concerns from all walks of life, or from the capital market, brain science requires long-term thinking. It is an industry that can truly transcend cycles. The so-called “transcend” refers to not only the to-do list in three years, but that in 5, 10, and 15 years.
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