Striving for a 10-Billion-Level Industry, How Does Guangdong's "Dual-Core" Labor Division Work

On June 24th, the Office of the Science and Technology Commission of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee issued the "Action Plan for the Collaborative Development of Brain-Computer Interface Technology and Industry in Guangdong Province (2026 - 2030)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), putting forward phased advancement goals. By 2027, key technologies in brain-computer interfaces will continue to make breakthroughs. For more than five major brain diseases, the neural circuit theories and regulatory mechanisms will be analyzed from multiple dimensions, and brain-computer interface systems for disease assessment, screening, intervention, and rehabilitation will be developed. Core devices, key instruments, systems, platforms, and products for brain-computer interfaces will be researched and developed, and more than 10 backbone enterprises in the industrial chain will be cultivated. The industrial agglomeration areas in Guangzhou and Shenzhen will take initial shape, providing important support for the large-scale development of the industry.

By 2030, 100 new brain-computer interface technology-based enterprises will be added, and a number of unicorn enterprises with core competitiveness will be cultivated; more than 10 popular non-invasive brain-computer interface products will be created, and multiple invasive brain-computer interface products will enter clinical transformation and obtain medical device registration certificates; 100 benchmark application scenarios for brain-computer interfaces will be created, 200 brain-computer interface wards will be established in the medical field, and the cumulative number of services will exceed 500,000 person - times. The scale of the core brain-computer interface industry will reach tens of billions of yuan, and the scale of the upstream and downstream industries it radiates will reach hundreds of billions of yuan.

In 2026, "brain-computer interface" was written into the government work report for the first time, becoming one of the future industries to be key - cultivated during China's 15th Five - Year Plan period. The "Prospective Report on the Commercialization of Brain-Computer Interfaces in China" points out that driven by the superposition of industrial policy support, technological breakthroughs, and prominent market demand, brain-computer interface technology is expected to enter the "golden window period" for large-scale commercial implementation.

According to the statistics in the above report, in the first quarter of this year, the total financing amount of brain-computer interface enterprises has exceeded that of the whole last year, and the scale of the Chinese brain-computer interface market is expected to exceed 5 billion yuan. The researchers of the report believe that during the 15th Five - Year Plan period, the industry will show a head - effect, and 3 - 5 all - around leading enterprises with international influence will emerge.

In the competition for future tracks, the "Action Plan for the Innovative Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry in Jiangsu Province" released in March this year proposes that by 2030, the industrial development system will be initially improved, forming a relatively complete industrial ecosystem covering basic materials, core components, complete machine products, application services, etc., and the comprehensive industrial competitiveness will rank among the top in the country.

During the same period, the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of New Tracks to Lead the Construction of a Modern Industrial System in Guangdong Province (2026 - 2035)" was released, clearly identifying 53 new tracks for initial key development, including brain science and brain-computer interfaces. It proposes to carry out research on key areas such as high - channel, high - speed acquisition chips, high - performance, low - power consumption processing chips, and dedicated software tools for brain signal encoding, control, and interaction.

Currently, the newly released "Action Plan" can be regarded as a more systematic industrial layout. By 2030, the scale of the core brain-computer interface industry in the province will reach tens of billions of yuan, and the scale of the upstream and downstream industries it radiates will reach hundreds of billions of yuan. At the level of urban division of labor, a development pattern of brain-computer interface technology and industry in the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area should be constructed, with Guangzhou and Shenzhen as the core, the cities in the Pearl River Delta as the cooperation partners, and Hong Kong and Macao as the linkages.

Specifically, Shenzhen will build an industrial agglomeration area for brain science and brain-computer engineering with global influence, strengthen the original innovation of key brain-computer interface technologies, focus on key areas such as neural signal decoding, invasive device design, and system integration, and establish a complete technical system of "material preparation - device R & D - function verification - system construction".

Guangzhou will build a globally influential brain-computer interface industrial cluster. With the core goal of building a full - chain ecosystem of "technology - clinical - manufacturing - application", it will support the construction of a future industrial pilot area for brain-computer interfaces with "Guangzhou Brain Valley" featuring a dual - core and multi - park model centered on Haizhu and Tianhe Districts. Each district is encouraged to formulate supporting special policies to attract the agglomeration and development of professional institutions and enterprises.

Moreover, Guangdong has even more long - term goals. Looking forward to 2035, brain-computer interface technology will be deeply integrated and developed with cutting - edge fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and virtual reality. Leading brain-computer interface enterprises will have global influence, technology - based enterprises will have core competitiveness, application scenarios will be fully promoted, and Guangdong will become a global high - ground for brain-computer interface technological innovation and collaborative industrial development.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory", author: Yang Huan. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.