[DigitalToday reporter Jin-ho Lee] The government is launching a public-private consultative body to build a brain-computer interface (BCI) industry ecosystem and will support technology development and demonstrations, with a goal of commercialising BCI products by 2035.

The Ministry of Science and ICT held a launch ceremony for the "BCI Alliance" on Tuesday at The Plaza in Seoul. The BCI Alliance is a public-private consultative body set up to build a domestic BCI ecosystem. Participants include the Korea BCI Association, the Korean Society for Brain-Computer Interface, the ministry and other relevant government agencies.

It will operate under a joint chair system led by the government and the private sector and will have three working groups covering research and development, commercialisation and ecosystem building. The first joint chairs will be Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Kyung-hoon Bae (배경훈) and Korea BCI Association Chairman Nam-jong Baek (백남종).

BCI is a technology that enables direct communication between humans and computers using brain signals. It can be used in various fields, including overcoming physical disabilities such as quadriplegia, brain diseases and visual impairment, as well as mind-controlled robots and sensory-delivery content.

The government is pursuing technology development by including BCI in the "7 SEED" and "K-Moonshot" large-scale R&D projects. It aims to complete BCI technology demonstrations by 2029, then start clinical trials and commercialise related products by 2035.

At a policy forum held after the launch ceremony, Il-joo Cho (조일주), programme director for the K-Moonshot BCI programme, presented the "K-Moonshot BCI Programme Roadmap". Experts from universities, companies, hospitals and regulatory bodies discussed building BCI infrastructure, fostering the industry, clinical application and licensing and approval support systems.

The ministry said it will support BCI product demonstrations and commercialisation for patients with quadriplegia and brain diseases through the "Brainlink Initiative Task Force" set to launch next year, in line with the roadmap. It also plans to build preclinical trial infrastructure specialised for the brain industry and a brain map containing information on brain structure and function.

Kyung-hoon Bae said he hopes universities, research institutions, medical institutions and companies participating in the BCI Alliance will overcome together the problems they face in the BCI development process. He said the government will also listen closely to views from the field and will not spare policy and institutional support.