China Integrates BCI in Rehabilitation Device Innovation
Summary
Chinese authorities recently issued a three-year action plan for the rehabilitation assistive-device industry that integrates brain-computer interface (BCI), artificial intelligence and flexible electronics with rehabilitation device development, and pursues medical-engineering collaboration to drive technical breakthroughs in materials and components.
Why it matters
By naming brain-computer interface a key common enabling technology for expanding and upgrading the rehabilitation assistive-device industry, the policy marks BCI's formal entry into China's national rehabilitation-industry strategy.
According to official documents from China’s State Council policy database, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other departments (民政部等) jointly issued the Three-Year Action Plan for Expanding and Improving the Rehabilitation Equipment Industry (2026-2028) on July 13, 2026. The plan emphasizes medical-engineering collaboration, promoting the deep integration of cutting-edge technologies—including artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and flexible electronics—with clinical requirements to enhance the technical capacity for rehabilitation equipment materials and components. Brain-computer interface technology is explicitly identified as a key common technology direction in the rehabilitation equipment industry’s capacity expansion and quality improvement. This plan covers the full chain from basic research to product development, aiming to accelerate innovation and iteration of rehabilitation equipment products through breakthrough advances in key common technologies such as biomaterials, human-machine coordination, and bio-inspired control, providing disabled and injured individuals with advanced rehabilitation solutions.
Compiled by BCIwiki from public sources
