5 more brain-computer interface companies you need to know – Mass Device

BCI technology from Cognixion, Precision Neuroscience, InBrain Neuroelectronics and Kandu Health.

The brain-computer interface (BCI) space continues to rise in notoriety, and a number of players are throwing their hats in the ring.

Such technologies could enable users to control a computer with their brain, or even go beyond that. Countless immobile people someday could control a mouse cursor, keyboard, mobile device/tablet, wheelchair or prosthetic device by only thinking.

Big names have already established their presence in the space. Elon Musks Neuralink continues to make headway, while Bill Gates- and Jeff Bezos-backed Synchron has an innovative catheter-delivered implant. Blackrock Neurotech, which has a next-generation BCI, has been implanting its Utah Array in patients since 2004.

Those companies and more were covered in last years roundup of brain-computer interface companies you need to know. But there are several more companies out there developing intriguing BCI technology.

Here are a handful that have caught the eye:

Santa Barbara, California-based Cognixion develops the Cognixion One Axon. This assisted reality device utilizes a bionic combination or AI, augmented reality and assistive technology.

The company designed the system to help people with severe motor impairments communicate and interact more effectively and independently. It utilizes electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to provide a brain-computer interface. This enables patients with advanced disease progression to communicate responses in a wearable, augmented reality headset.

Cognixion says it uses AI to rapidly support communication intentions and desired outcomes. The device could provide suggestions capable of quick selection and audible and visual communication.

Specifically, Cognixion designed the device to help individuals with neurodegenerative conditions. Those include Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrigsdisease and MND (Motor Neuron Disease). It could also extend to conditions like traumatic injuries and cerebral palsy.

Cognixion says that, at present, no brain-computer interface device like its own exists that enables fully paralyzed or locked-in patients to communicate once the current standard of care, eye-tracking, is no longer usable for their disease state due to ocular motor decline.

Forest Neurotech develops an ultrasonic whole-brain-computer interface (BCI) and software platform. It aims to catalyze breakthroughs in understanding and treating the human brain.

The focused research organization, a large-scale nonprofit startup, designed its minimally invasive implant to measure and modulate brain-wide activity. As a result, it could unlock personalized understanding and treatment of the human brain.

Forest Neurotech last month entered into a co-development deal with Butterfly Network, a maker of portable ultrasound-on-chip technology. Using ultrasound transducers and miniaturized electronics on a single microchip enables neuroimaging and modulation.

The company says that, powered by the Butterfly Network technology, its implant will measure brain-wide function and continuously update therapeutics for many indications.

In September, InBrain received FDA breakthrough device designation for its graphene-neural platform as an adjunctive therapy for treating Parkinsons disease.

InBrain says its neural platform enables ultra-high signal resolution, using machine learning software to decode therapy-specific biomarkers. It delivers highly focused, adaptive neuroelectronic therapy that re-balances pathological neural networks.

The semiconductor-derivedbrain-computer interface (BCI) technologycould decode and modulate brain activity. It uses AI to trigger adaptive responses for personalized neurological treatment. In addition to Parkinsons InBrain notes epilepsy and speech impairment as potential target areas for treatment.

Carolina Aguilar, InBrain Neuroelectronics CEO and co-founder says the company anticipates developing the technology to treat other conditions affecting the central and peripheral nervous systems to make BCI technology relevant in neuro and bioelectronics.

Earlier this month, Neurolutions partnered with Imperative Cares Kandu Health to use brain-computer interface (BCI) in post-stroke recovery.

The system uses brain-computer interface technology developed for chronic stroke patients with an impaired upper extremity. It helps them regain function after stroke.

Neurolutions CEO Leo Petrossian says the next-generation solution meets stroke survivors where they are, empowering them to advance thought-driven neurotechnology. The Kandu Health partnership enables individuals who need IpsiHand to access it in a timely manner with critical clinical support.

Through this partnership, Kandu Health plans for its expert clinicians to support Neurolutions. Theyll provide clinical consultation and assessments of stroke survivors, determining who may benefit from the Neurolutions IpsiHand system.

Precision Neurosciences Layer 7 Cortical Interface features 1,024 tiny electrodes spanning an area of one square centimeter. The company embedded the electrodes in a flexible film that conforms to the brain surface. The film comes in at one-fifth the thickness of a human hair. Precision Neuroscience designed it for implantation and removal by neurosurgeons without damaging brain tissue.

Benjamin Rapoport, a founding member of Elon Musks Neuralink BCI venture, started the company with private equity investor Michael Mager. Mager serves as CEO of Precision Neuroscience.

The Precision Neuroscience BCI remains investigational and not for sale in the U.S. The FDA granted breakthrough device designation to the company last month and it has its eyes on regulatory approval in 2024.

Precision Neuroscience says it expects its brain implant to enable people with severe neurological conditions, like speech deficits and paralysis, to regain independence, communicate with loved ones and rejoin the workforce.

While these companies dont specifically develop brain-computer interfaces, their technology enables potentially life-saving innovations.

Onward develops the ARC-IM stimulation system that delivers targeted, programmed therapy to the spinal cord. It aims to restore movement and other functions after spinal cord injury. Combined with brain-computer interface technology, the company believes it could restore thought-driven movement.

Another company to watch is NICO, which develops the BrainPath, a navigated trans-sulcal access technology widely used in minimally invasive parafascicular surgery (MIPS) for access in the removal of brain tumors and evacuation of hemorrhagic stroke.

The company last month reported the first successful deep-brain implant of the technology using BrainPath in an animal.

NICO technologiesremove the barrier of deep-brain access by providing a safe pathway for delivery of a BCI into those subcortical regions, leading to possible treatments for many neurological disorders.

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5 more brain-computer interface companies you need to know - Mass Device