2025 Pujiang Innovation Forum: Chair Prof. Mohamad Sawan gave a keynote on Innovation Culture in BCI research and development

The 2025 Pujiang Innovation Forum was successfully held in Shanghai from September 20 to 22. Professor Mohamad Sawan, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Chair Professor at Westlake University, a leading authority in the field of global intelligent microsystems, was invited to deliver a keynote speech at this year’s forum, focusing on the theme of Innovation Culture in Research and Development. Under the title “Innovative Brain–Computer Interfaces to Efficiently Manage Neurodegenerative Diseases,” he shared how a strong culture of innovation is being cultivated in his research center to drive major advances in brain–computer interface (BCI) technology.

Centered on the theme “Sharing Innovation, Shaping the Future: Building an Open and Cooperative Global Sci-Tech Community,” this year’s forum gathered over 500 participants from 45 countries and regions to explore pathways for global scientific collaboration and innovation, with a focus on promoting the development of an open and cooperative global technology ecosystem. Among the various thematic forums, the Innovation Culture Forum stood out as one of the most eye-catching highlights due to its unique perspective and far-reaching impact.

During his keynote, Professor Sawan explained, “We are introducing system-on-chip (SoC)-based implantable brain–computer interfaces capable of real-time detecting and prediction of random neurological episodes such as early-stage epileptic seizures.” He also demonstrated a high performance SoC illustrating the potential and practical value of a pure neuromorphic platform in embodied AI. In particular, he centered his talk on the innovation culture he is fostering within his research center (CenBRAIN Neuortech) to ensure significant progress. He emphasized that this culture is mandatory because our works are deeply interdisciplinary, necessitating active collaboration with a broad spectrum of researchers from numerous fields.

In the panel discussion, Professor Sawan further emphasized, “Major breakthroughs are currently being made in brain science. Innovative BCI technology offers brand-new solutions for the management of neurodegenerative diseases.” He expressed his hope that wider sharing of multidisciplinary sci-tech innovations will accelerate research advances and clinical translation in related fields.