Regional reportWhere is it happening?
North America
The largest concentration of venture-funded implant companies and registered feasibility studies, built on two decades of academic intracortical research.
United States, Canada and Mexico.
AcceleratingConfidence high
Research trajectory, from scholarly works by author country: +10% a year over the latest three years, +6% in the three before. Data as of 8 Oct 2026.
Field snapshot
- 656
- scholarly works in 2025
- 18% of the world count; 28% in 2019
- 417
- PubMed papers in 2025
- held as individual records
- 66
- registered studies open now
- 42 with an implanted interface
- 18
- companies profiled
- in 2 countries
- $2.31B
- disclosed in recorded rounds
- 11 rounds; a sample
- 7
- regulatory milestones recorded
- kept apart by type
Profiled companies at their headquarters, from the year each was founded.
15 marks on the companies layer in 2026, North America. Hover a mark, or use the list.
Marks are records, not decoration. Country marks sit at the centre of the country, not at an institution. Mark area follows the count, so a few large countries dominate; use the region zoom to read the rest. 3 profiled companies have not disclosed a location and are not placed. 36 countries with a small number of works have no position recorded and are not drawn. Clinical counts come from ClinicalTrials.gov and under-count studies outside the United States.
Research momentum
Authors in North America published 656 scholarly works on brain-computer interfaces in 2025, +13% on the year before. Over the latest three years output grew +10% a year, against +6% in the three years before; the world as a whole grew +23% a year.
| Year | North America |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 161 |
| 2011 | 225 |
| 2012 | 225 |
| 2013 | 240 |
| 2014 | 292 |
| 2015 | 319 |
| 2016 | 310 |
| 2017 | 349 |
| 2018 | 378 |
| 2019 | 419 |
| 2020 | 490 |
| 2021 | 507 |
| 2022 | 499 |
| 2023 | 553 |
| 2024 | 582 |
| 2025 | 656 |
| 2026 | 588 |
| Country | 2025 | Growth a year | Trajectory |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 592 | +12% | Accelerating |
| Canada | 66 | +1% | Slowing |
| Mexico | 15 | −16% | Declining |
Countries with at least five works in 2025. A work with authors in several countries counts once in each.
Companies and initiatives
- Neuralink
Fremont, United States · 2016
A fully implanted, wireless intracortical BCI placed by a surgical robot.
Core BCI
- Synchron
New York, United States · 2012
A BCI delivered through the blood vessels, without open brain surgery.
Core BCI
- Precision Neuroscience
New York, United States · 2021
A thin-film cortical surface array that slides under the skull through a narrow slit.
Core BCI
- Paradromics
Austin, United States · 2015
A high-data-rate intracortical BCI aimed first at restoring speech.
Core BCI
- Blackrock Neurotech
Salt Lake City, United States · 2008
Maker of the electrode arrays behind most human intracortical BCI research.
Core BCI
- Science Corporation
Alameda, United States · 2021
A retinal implant that restores form vision, now commercially available in Europe.
Neuroprosthetic
- Merge Labs
United States · 2025
A research-stage company pursuing non-implanted interfaces based on ultrasound and molecular methods.
Neural interface
- Motif Neurotech
Houston, United States · 2022
A miniature, wirelessly powered brain stimulator for treatment-resistant depression.
Neuromodulation
- Meta Reality Labs
Menlo Park, United States
A wrist-worn neuromotor interface that works across people without per-user calibration.
Peripheral / neuromotor interface
- BrainGate
Providence, United States · 2004
The academic consortium behind two decades of human intracortical BCI research.
Core BCI
- Kandu
United States · 2007
Maker of IpsiHand, a non-invasive BCI for hand rehabilitation after stroke that the FDA authorised for marketing in 2021, years before any implanted system.
Core BCI
- Axoft
Cambridge, United States
Very soft implantable probes, tested for the first time in people during brain surgery in 2025.
Neural interface
- ReEmerge
United States
Deep brain stimulation of the central thalamus, to restore cognitive function years after a traumatic brain injury.
Neuromodulation
- Medtronic
Minneapolis, United States
Maker of the first deep brain stimulator authorised to adjust itself to the brain signals it records.
Neuromodulation
- Cognixion
Santa Barbara, United States
A non-invasive BCI for communication, built into an augmented-reality headset.
Core BCI
- Coherence Neuro
San Francisco, United States
A neural interface aimed at brain cancer: record from and stimulate the cortex around a tumour.
Neural interface
- NGoggle
San Diego, United States
Goggles that test the visual field by reading the brain's response, without asking the patient to press a button.
Adjacent technology
- Axem Neurotechnology
Halifax, Canada
A headband that measures brain activity with light during stroke rehabilitation at home, and shows it to the patient.
Core BCI
Clinical programmes
ClinicalTrials.gov lists 66 open studies with a site in North America, 42 of them involving an implanted interface. 17 studies started in 2025.
- Sep 2026Interfacing with neurotechnology to expand neural throughputJohns Hopkins University · NCT07521930Johns Hopkins UniversityRecruiting
- Sep 2026RESONATEMotif Neurotech · NCT07594483Emory University; University of IowaRecruiting
- Apr 2026INTENTSynchron · NCT07543367Mayo Clinic; Mount Sinai Health System; University at Buffalo Neurosurgery; University of Pittsburgh; UT Southwestern Medical CenterRecruiting
- 31 Mar 2026Connect-OneParadromics · NCT07357428University of Michigan; Massachusetts General Hospital; University of California, DavisRecruiting
- 3 Oct 2025VOICENeuralink · NCT07224256UT Southwestern Medical CenterRecruiting
- 22 Jul 2025MRPICSUniversity of Washington · NCT06506279University of WashingtonRecruiting
- 20 Nov 2024CAN-PRIMENeuralink · NCT06700304University Health NetworkRecruiting
- 9 Jan 2024PRIMENeuralink · NCT06429735Barrow Neurological Institute; University of MiamiRecruiting
- 27 Apr 2022COMMANDSynchron · NCT05035823Mount Sinai Health System; University at Buffalo Neurosurgery; University of PittsburghActive, not recruiting
- 14 Dec 2021CortiComJohns Hopkins University · NCT03567213Johns Hopkins UniversityRecruiting
- 20 Aug 2020ICVPIllinois Institute of Technology · NCT04634383Illinois Institute of TechnologyRecruiting
- 9 Nov 2018BRAVOUniversity of California, San Francisco · NCT03698149University of California, San FranciscoRecruiting
- 1 Dec 2013CRS-BMIUniversity of Pittsburgh · NCT01894802University of Pittsburgh; University of ChicagoRecruiting
- May 2009BrainGate2Leigh R. Hochberg (sponsor-investigator) · NCT00912041Massachusetts General Hospital; Brown University / Providence VA Medical Center; Stanford University; University of California, Davis; Emory University; Baylor College of MedicineRecruiting
Capital
- 25 Sep 2026$250MPrecision Neuroscience Series D
- 15 Sep 2026$37MReEmerge Series A
- 5 Mar 2026$230MScience Corporation Series C
- 14 Jan 2026$252MMerge Labs Seed
- 7 Nov 2025$200MSynchron Series D
- Jun 2025$650MNeuralink Series E
- 8 Apr 2025$30MKandu Financing with merger
- Dec 2024$102MPrecision Neuroscience Series C
- 29 Apr 2024$200MBlackrock Neurotech Strategic investment
- 8 Aug 2023$280MNeuralink Series D
- Dec 2022$75MSynchron Series C
Disclosed funding only: the rounds recorded by the Briefing, not a market total.
Regulatory environment
In the United States an implanted BCI is studied under an investigational device exemption from the FDA, usually first in an early feasibility study with a handful of participants.
A Breakthrough Device designation speeds dialogue with the agency. It is not an authorisation. Marketing requires clearance or approval through the 510(k), De Novo or premarket approval routes, each for a stated use.
Canada authorises device studies separately, through Health Canada.
- 22 Jul 2026PRIMA receives CE markEU (notified body) · CE markMarketing authorisation in Europe for a defined indication. Not authorised in the United States.
- 28 Apr 2026RESONATE authorised under IDEUS FDA · Investigational device exemptionPermits a clinical study of an investigational device. Not a marketing authorisation.
- Nov 2025Connect-One authorised under IDEUS FDA · Investigational device exemptionPermits a clinical study of an investigational device. Not a marketing authorisation.
- Apr 2025Layer 7 Cortical Interface clearedUS FDA · 510(k) clearanceTemporary use of up to 30 days. Long-term implantation as a BCI is not covered.
- 24 Feb 2025Adaptive deep brain stimulation approvedUS FDA · Approval of adaptive deep brain stimulationStimulation that adjusts to local field potentials recorded by the same implant, for Parkinson's disease on Percept neurostimulators. A therapy that adapts to one signal; not a BCI authorisation.
- 4 May 2023Cognixion ONE Axon receives Breakthrough Device designationUS FDA · Breakthrough Device designationA designation speeds interaction with the regulator. It is not a clearance or approval.
- Apr 2021IpsiHand authorised through De NovoUS FDA · De Novo marketing authorisationA non-invasive EEG system for upper-extremity rehabilitation in chronic stroke, by prescription. Granted to Neurolutions, now part of Kandu.
Institutions in the corpus
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, United States
Stanford University
Stanford, United States
University of California, Davis
Sacramento, United States
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, United States
Brown University / Providence VA Medical Center
Providence, United States
Emory University
Atlanta, United States
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, United States
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, United States
University of Chicago
Chicago, United States
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, United States
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, United States
Barrow Neurological Institute
Phoenix, United States
University of Miami
Miami, United States
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, United States
Mount Sinai Health System
New York, United States
University at Buffalo Neurosurgery
Buffalo, United States
Mayo Clinic
Jacksonville, United States
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, United States
University of Washington
Seattle, United States
University of Iowa
Iowa City, United States
University Health Network
Toronto, Canada
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, United States
UTHealth Houston
Houston, United States
Institutions appear here because a profiled study or paper names them. It is not a ranking, and many active groups are missing.
Latest developments
Technology
Neuralink says pooled participant data pushed cursor control to 11.32 bits per second
Funding
Precision Neuroscience raises $250M to take its surface array beyond thirty days
Clinical
Paradromics reports real-time speech from its first study participant
Regulatory
A retinal implant becomes the first of the new generation to reach the market
- 1 Oct 2026Neuralink Company reports a cursor-control rate of 11.32 bits per second after pretraining decoders on more than 50,000 hours of participant data.
- 25 Sep 2026Precision Neuroscience $250M Series D led by Pershing Square and the Ackman Oxman Institute; total funding reaches $430M.
- 15 Sep 2026ReEmerge Emerges from stealth with a $37M Series A co-led by U.S. Venture Partners and Santé Ventures.
- 14 Sep 2026Paradromics Company reports that its first participant used the system for real-time speech and text of her own choosing.
- Sep 2026Blackrock Neurotech Named as collaborator on a Johns Hopkins study of higher-throughput intracortical interfaces.Source record
- Sep 2026Motif Neurotech RESONATE study registered and recruiting at two US sites; 20 participants planned.Source record
- 28 Jul 2026ReEmerge The company's feasibility study is registered: 40 participants planned, not yet recruiting.
- 22 Jul 2026Science Corporation European commercial launch announced following CE marking.
Open questions and outlook
- Communication at the speed of conversationWhen does a speech BCI become something a person can simply talk with?3–5 years · confidence moderate
- Decoders that work out of the boxCan a BCI be useful on day one, for a new person, without hours of training?1–2 years · confidence moderate
- Fully implanted, wireless, high channel countWhen do the systems with the best signals lose the connector through the skin?1–2 years · confidence moderate
- From study device to authorised productWhere, and for what, will implanted BCIs be authorised next?1–2 years · confidence moderate
Forward-looking judgements by The BCI Briefing, with their reasoning on the Trends page. Uncertain by nature.
What we cannot see here
- Our clinical source, ClinicalTrials.gov, is the US registry, so this is the region we see most completely.
- Company facts recorded from editorial knowledge are marked as awaiting a source check on each profile.
Known to us, not yet verified
- NeuroPace (responsive neurostimulation for epilepsy, a closed-loop brain implant in clinical use)
- Echo Neurotechnologies, Reach Neuro, Neurobionics, Sonera and NeuroOne (named in the competing-interest statements of papers we cite)
Leads are pointers for us to check: a study sponsor in a registry, a name in a report. They say nothing yet about what an organisation does, and none is counted anywhere on this site until it has a profile with sources.
Sources cited for this region’s profiles are in English.