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The BCI Briefing

Company profileCore BCI

Axem Neurotechnology

A headband that measures brain activity with light during stroke rehabilitation at home, and shows it to the patient.

Location
Halifax, Canada
Class
Core BCIThe registry describes the system as an fNIRS-based brain-computer interface. The loop is feedback to the patient, not control of a device; it is counted with the other rehabilitation systems that return a measured brain signal to the user.
Also known as
Axem Neurotechnology Inc.
Sources last checked
6 Oct 2026

What they are building

Halifax company. Axem Home pairs a headband that measures motor-cortex activity by functional near-infrared spectroscopy with tablet software that guides arm and hand exercises and feeds the measurement back to the patient.

Interface category
Optical sensing
Signal
Haemodynamic response in the outer cortex
Invasiveness
Non-invasive
Recording / stimulation
Recording
Main use cases
Restore, Move

Where they are clinically

Feasibility

Small early studies that test safety and whether the device can do what it is meant to.

Its own registered study began in February 2022 and has had no update. The peer-reviewed paper shows the measurement is feasible at home; it does not test whether the feedback improves recovery.

Access today

Clinical study

Accessible only by enrolling in a registered clinical study.

Shown in people
In eleven chronic stroke survivors, a measure of motor-cortex activity taken at home with the headband tracked their impairment and function (peer reviewed, 2022; the company supplied the hardware).
Still an aim
Better motor recovery from exercise guided by that feedback.
What stands in the way
A controlled result: its registered study has not reported, and the registry lists its status as unknown.

On record here: 0 peer-reviewed papers

This technology remains experimental and is not an established treatment. Access is limited to registered clinical studies.

Why this company matters

Axem tests a cheaper version of an established idea. Rehabilitation BCIs usually read EEG; Axem reads blood flow with light, which is slower and far easier to wear, and bets that a slow signal is enough when the task is practising a movement and not controlling a device. The published work shows the measurement can be made at home. That the feedback itself helps is the claim still waiting for a controlled result.

Key milestones

  1. 9 Dec 2022

    Paper reports that a laterality measure taken at home with the portable device tracks impairment and function in chronic stroke.

    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

  2. 23 Feb 2022

    A study of post-stroke motor rehabilitation with Axem Home begins in Boston; 40 participants planned.

    ClinicalTrials.gov

IP and patents

3
patent families identified and counted as BCI
2018
earliest first filing among them
1
first filed since 2021; the latest years are incomplete
1 of 3
include a granted member, of those whose family record was read

Across the stack: families by layer

Themes, by number of families: optical interfaces (3), signal processing (2), neural decoding (1), assistive and control applications (1). A family can carry several.

Published in: Canada (2), United States (2), Australia (1), counted over the 3 families whose full record was read.

Representative families

Families found for Axem Neurotechnology in the EPO’s worldwide database, grouped so that one invention counts once. A filing shows what a company sought to protect. It does not show that the technology was built, is in a product, or works in people, and themes are read from titles, abstracts and classes, not from the claims. How to read this

Competitive context

Sources

  1. 01

    ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05258591: Post-stroke motor rehabilitation using functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based brain-computer interface (opens in a new tab)

    Clinical registryClinicalTrials.govChecked against source 5 Oct 2026

    Sponsor Axem Neurotechnology Inc. 40 participants planned; started 23 February 2022 in Boston; the registry lists the status as unknown.

  2. 02

    Home-based portable fNIRS-derived cortical laterality correlates with impairment and function in chronic stroke. Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 (opens in a new tab)

    Peer reviewedFrontiers in Human Neuroscience9 Dec 2022Checked against source 6 Oct 2026

    DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2022.1023246. Read from the PubMed record: eleven chronic stroke survivors used a wireless prototype headband at home; an author's affiliation is Axem Neurotechnology, Halifax, and the company supplied the hardware. It reports the measurement, not a treatment effect.

  3. 03

    Axem Neurotechnology, Creative Destruction Lab company page (opens in a new tab)

    Independent reportingCreative Destruction LabChecked against source 6 Oct 2026

    An accelerator's page. Describes a headband that measures brain activity during movement by functional near-infrared spectroscopy. It gives no founding year, and we show none.