Creating a Roadmap for Implanted Brain-Computer Interfaces for Youth with Complex Needs

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) allow people living with complex disabilities to use their brain activity to interact with the world. Implanted BCIs can record signals directly from the brain and translate them to computer commands at high speed and fidelity, in a continuous manner. About 100 people worldwide have been implanted with a BCI, all in research settings, and this number is expected to rapidly increase as implanted BCIs become commercially available. Individuals with pediatric onset conditions represent a large proportion of the global burden of complex and severe disability, and will likely benefit significantly from such systems. Despite the progress that is being made in the development of safe, wireless, and highly effective implanted BCIs, none of these have been considered for persons with pediatric onset conditions. Here we present a summary of two years of cumulative effort in establishing a world-first roadmap toward implanted BCIs for youth with complex needs. This roadmap encompasses discussions and findings from multiple transdisciplinary engagement sessions, including the first International Virtual Summit on Implanted BCIs for Children with Complex Needs (February 2024), follow-up themed workgroup sessions (May 2024-March 2025), and a final in-person workshop held at the 11th International BCI Society Meeting (Banff, June 2025). This work aims to provide a visionary, community-and-partner-engaged roadmap for the design, development and implementation of implanted BCIs to enable persons with pediatric-onset conditions.