Efforts stepped up in HK to promote long-term neuroscience investment

Experts in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region expect bolder and quicker steps to be taken as long-term investment strategies in brain-computer interface technology.

Leading universities in the city have begun researching neuroscience at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre.

They are also studying it at the neuroscience department established in 2019 by the City University of Hong Kong, and at the Neural Interface Research Laboratory at the latter university's electrical engineering department.

Vincent Cheung Chi-kwan, associate professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: "Medical students, in particular, are more interested in neuroscience. It's amazing that such students at the University of Hong Kong and CUHK have decided to set up a joint Hong Kong students' association on neuroscience in an attempt to engage young people in the subject."

Cheung's research is aimed at understanding how the brain and spinal cord control a person's movements.

"Our approach is like the English alphabet. We use the 26 letters to create an infinite number of words. Our idea is that the brain has an alphabet of movement. When learning about new movements, we need to find the right ones and create the right combinations," Cheung said.

Cheung has applied this method to the rehabilitation of chronic stroke survivors.

"We've finished treating the first batch of patients. They think that the method is promising, and they are excited about it," Cheung said.

His team is exploring the possibility of commercializing the technology, but he said details cannot be disclosed at this stage.