China Chairs ISO/IEC Subcommittee to Set Global Brain-Computer Interface Standards

A China-led committee now holds the secretariat of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 43, the subcommittee tasked with drafting worldwide standards for how brains and computers communicate and interact across application areas. Yu Yuntao, a former department head at the China Electronics Standardization Institute, chairs the body. According to abstracts posted on the websites of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, the subcommittee operates under the joint oversight of both organizations. Several standards have already been published by the committee, among them a BCI vocabulary, a data format for non-invasive brain information collection, a reference architecture and use cases. The move comes as Beijing lists BCI applications among its national development priorities. Xiaomeng Lu, director of geo-technology at Eurasia Group, said the Chinese government is betting on the industry as one with the potential to become the next EV sector. Standard-setting authority over BCI would let the committee shape how the technology is built globally.