Data appendix
The indicator set with its sources, the source registers, the licences of every kind of material and the formats of the edition.
Contents
- ·Edition home
- ·Executive summary
- 1Neurotechnology is clinical hardware and a new class of personal data
- 2Key findings
- 3Systems and sectors at baseline
- 4Risks and capability
- 5Consumer neural data outside medical rules
- 6Readings from the other desks
- 7The 2027 agenda
- 8Systems in depth
- AMethodology
- BData appendix
- CReferences and record
- ·Complete edition, for print
B.1The indicator set
| Indicator | Value | Unit | Year | State | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speech decoding rate, large vocabulary | 62 | words per minute | 2023 | Reported | 1 |
| Word error rate, 125,000 words | 23.8 | % | 2023 | Reported | 1 |
| Word error rate, 50 words | 9.1 | % | 2023 | Reported | 1 |
| Median speech decoding rate | 78 | words per minute | 2023 | Reported | 2 |
| Median word error rate | 25 | % | 2023 | Reported | 2 |
| Accuracy beyond eight months, 125,000 words | 97.5 | % | 2023 | Reported | 3 |
| Electrodes in the accuracy study | 256 | electrodes | 2023 | Reported | 3 |
| Handwriting decoding rate | 90 | characters per minute | 2021 | Reported | 6 |
| Participants in the inner speech study | 4 | participants | 2025 | Reported | 5 |
| Participants in the endovascular study | 5 | participants | 2025 | Reported | 8 |
| Channels in the endovascular array | 16 | channels | 2025 | Reported | 8 |
| Estimated enrolment in PRIME | 15 | participants | 2026 | Reported | 13 |
| Participants implanted, company statement | 5 | participants | 2025 | Reported | 20 |
| Neuralink round | 650 | USD million | 2025 | Reported | 20 |
| FTC study authorisation in the MIND Act | 10 | USD million | 2025 | Reported | 11 |
| Maximum implantation duration in the cleared array | 30 | days | 2025 | Reported | 15 |
B.2Global source register
The governed source set behind this edition. Each source keeps its authority, coverage, cadence and role; categories describe origin, not truth.
Domains bound by the register
- INF
- DAT
- HLT
- FIN
- GOV
- BIO
- TRD
- MIN
- ENE
- AIC
| Source | Category | Coverage | Period | Cadence | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willett et al. in Nature1 | peer-reviewed journal | one participant | 2023 | one-off | speech decoding |
| Metzger et al. in Nature2 | peer-reviewed journal | one participant | 2023 | one-off | speech and avatar |
| Card et al. record3 | preprint server record | one participant | 2023 | one-off | accuracy |
| Kunz et al. in Cell5 | peer-reviewed journal | four participants | 2025 | one-off | inner speech |
| Lorach et al. in Nature7 | peer-reviewed journal | one participant | 2023 | one-off | brain-spine interface |
| Chetty et al.8 | preprint server | five participants | 2025 | one-off | endovascular |
| FDA guidance9 | national regulator | US | 2021 | one-off | testing |
| UNESCO page10 | intergovernmental body | global | 2025 | one-off | ethics |
| Registry entry13 | trial registry | one study | 2026 | continuous | enrolment |
| Chinese implementation opinion, translated16 | translation of a ministry text | China | 2025 | one-off | targets |
B.3Regional reading, neurotechnology across ten clusters
Regional plates follow with the regional editions. This page gives the regional reading of neurotechnology and neural data in table form and ranks no region.
| Region | Principal hazards | Systems most exposed | Baseline evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | clinical trials; federal guidance; state neural data laws | devices, data law | FDA9; Colorado14; Senate11 |
| South America | constitutional neurorights in Chile | data law | Chilean sources1718 |
| Europe | medical device rules and research programmes | regulation | regional evidence (not bound) |
| Eurasia | research programmes | research | regional evidence (not bound) |
| Middle East and North Africa | no evidence bound | not bound | regional evidence (not bound) |
| Africa | access and skills | workforce | regional evidence (not bound) |
| South Asia | no evidence bound | not bound | regional evidence (not bound) |
| East Asia | industrial policy targets for 2027 and 2030 | industry policy | Chinese opinion16 |
| ASEAN | no evidence bound | not bound | regional evidence (not bound) |
| Oceania-Pacific | no evidence bound | not bound | regional evidence (not bound) |
B.4Cluster card: speech neuroprosthesis research network
- speech
- intracortical arrays
- single participants
- inner speech
- Systems in view
- implanted arrays, decoders, clinical teams, participants with paralysis
- Defining events
- two Nature papers of August 202312
- Couplings
- INF → HLT clinical benefit; INF → DAT inner speech
- Capability evidence
- long-term accuracy and inner speech safeguards reported35
- Gaps
- participants beyond one or four; home use; durability
- Agenda items
- N-04 · N-05
Speech decoders reached 62 and 78 words per minute in single participants with paralysis [1] [2].
CLINIC
Speech from attempted speaking
Imagined sentences were decoded in four participants, and the authors propose safeguards against unintended decoding [5].
DATA
Inner speech
Accuracy of 97.5% beyond eight months was reported for one participant; drift remains a studied problem [3] [22].
DURABILITY
Months after implantation
B.5How countries appear in the neurotechnology edition
Countries enter the neurotechnology edition through the readiness chapters of their own national editions, on one card grammar. They are read against peer distributions and thresholds, never ranked.
| Card field | What it shows | Source |
|---|---|---|
| WEFH+B state | each core system against peer distribution bands | national edition |
| Couplings | the national dependency matrix | national edition |
| Risk objects | the national risk portfolio | national edition |
| Capability rungs | the national capability ladder | national edition |
| Evidence age | oldest and newest source dates | national source register |
Editions in the 2026 Baseline programme
26national
countries and unions
10regional
clusters
16global
flagship and sector
20frontier
technology reports
How to read a country card
- Each system is shown against the distribution of its peers, with thresholds where they exist
- Couplings and risk objects come from the country’s own national edition
- Capability rungs record evidence, not a judgement of institutions
- Evidence age is printed, so older national data are visible as such
| Wave | Countries and unions | State |
|---|---|---|
| W0 | Canada | ISSUED |
| W1 | United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, European Union, Switzerland | PLANNED |
| W2 | Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Türkiye, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya, African Union, India, China, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia | PLANNED |
B.6Licences
| Material | Licence |
|---|---|
| Text | CC BY 4.0 |
| Data | on the licence of each source; Nexus tables CC BY 4.0 |
| Figures | Nexus figures CC BY 4.0; third-party as credited |
| Maps | boundary source and licence printed on each plate |
| Metadata | CC0 1.0, as Zenodo publishes it |
| Third-party data, figures and text | The source’s own licence, credited where it is used; never relicensed |
| Nexus-authored text, tables and figures: CC BY 4.0 (SPDX CC-BY-4.0). Map plates print their boundary source and licence. | |
B.7Formats and provenance
| Format | Kind | State | What it is | Identifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web edition | HTML | On this site | Draft in stewardship review; every value resolves to its source. | NR-XTECH-NEURO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0 |
| Print edition | At release | A4 portrait · screen, print and archival PDF, signed with the web edition at release. | NR-XTECH-NEURO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0 | |
| Indicator data | CSV · JSON | On this site | 16 indicators with unit, year, status and source; the machine-readable copy ships with the evidence bundle at release. | NR-XTECH-NEURO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE data release v1 |
| Figures | SVG · PNG | On this site | 4 on the web edition: headline figure, figure 1.3, coupling instrument, capability ladder. | FIG-XTECH-NEURO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-* |
| Slides | Not recorded | No slide deck is recorded for this edition. | ||
| Evidence brief | HTML · PDF | Not recorded | No evidence brief is recorded for this edition. | |
| Dataset with DOI | DataCite | At release | Concept and version DOI are minted at deposit; none is recorded yet. |
Provenance
- Edition pack
- The edition’s content pack (JSON), from which the print and web editions are built
- Evidence cut
- DC-XTECH-NEURO-GLOBAL-2026-B0, closed 30 September 2026
- Reproducibility
- sourced values cited; analytical values reproducible from stated parameters
- Self-check
- 14 of 23 at evidence close; a fail on any item blocks release
- Review
- five passes scheduled before release (in Annex C)
- Publisher of record
- The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) for the Nexus Consortium
- Corrections
- Registry correction pathway; upheld corrections are published as notices with a new version
Notes
Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references
- 1Willett, F.R. et al., A high-performance speech neuroprosthesis, Nature 620(7976), 1031 to 1036, published online 23 August 2023 (reference record read: 62 words per minute; 23.8% word error rate on 125,000 words; 9.1% on 50 words). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 2Metzger, S.L. et al., A high-performance neuroprosthesis for speech decoding and avatar control, Nature 620(7976), 1037 to 1046, published online 23 August 2023 (reference record read: median 78 words per minute; median word error rate 25%). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 3Card, N.S. et al., An accurate and rapidly calibrating speech neuroprosthesis, medRxiv preprint, 26 December 2023 (preprint record read: 99.6% on 50 words on day 1; 90.2% on 125,000 words on day 2; 97.5% beyond eight months; 256 electrodes; the record notes the New England Journal of Medicine version 391(7), 609 to 618, August 2024). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 6Willett, F.R., Avansino, D.T., Hochberg, L.R., Henderson, J.M. and Shenoy, K.V., High-performance brain-to-text communication via handwriting, Nature 593(7858), 249 to 254, published online 12 May 2021 (reference record read: 90 characters per minute; 94.1% raw online accuracy). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 5Kunz, E.M. et al., Inner speech in motor cortex and implications for speech neuroprostheses, Cell 188(17), 4658 to 4673, published online 14 August 2025 (reference record read: four participants). Cell Press, Cambridge MA. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 8Chetty, N. et al., Signal properties and stability of a chronically implanted endovascular brain computer interface, medRxiv preprint, 25 September 2025 (preprint record read: five participants; 16-channel array; one year; not peer reviewed). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 13ClinicalTrials.gov (ed.), PRIME: An Early Feasibility Study of a Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface for the Control of External Devices, NCT06429735 (record read: recruiting; start 9 January 2024; estimated enrolment 15; updated January 2026; sponsor-supplied entry). National Library of Medicine, Bethesda. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 20Zeff, M., Elon Musk Neuralink closes a USD 650 million Series E (trade report, 2 June 2025; page read; vendor statement as reported: five people implanted; valuation of about USD 9 billion pre-money from an earlier press report). TechCrunch, San Francisco. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 11United States Senate (ed.), Management of Individuals Neural Data Act of 2025 (MIND Act), S. 2925, 119th Congress, introduced text (text read: FTC study and report within one year of enactment; USD 10 million authorised; referred to committee). US Government Publishing Office, Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 15Precision Neuroscience (ed.), company release on FDA 510(k) clearance of the Layer 7 Cortical Interface, 17 April 2025 (release read; vendor announcement, weak evidence: up to 30 days of implantation; 37 patients tested). Precision Neuroscience, New York. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 7Lorach, H. et al., Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain-spine interface, Nature 618(7963), 126 to 133, published online 24 May 2023 (reference record read: fully implanted; stable for over one year; one man with chronic tetraplegia). Springer Nature, London. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 9US Food and Drug Administration (ed.), Implanted Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Devices for Patients with Paralysis or Amputation: Non-clinical Testing and Clinical Considerations, final guidance, May 2021 (guidance page read). Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Silver Spring. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 10UNESCO (ed.), Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology (page read: adopted November 2025 at the 43rd session of the General Conference; mandate entrusted by 194 Member States in 2023; the page states no neural data provisions). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 16Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other bodies (eds.), Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovation and Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry, MIIT (2025) No. 164, 23 July 2025, English translation by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, 18 December 2025 (translation page read). Georgetown University, Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 14Colorado General Assembly (ed.), HB24-1058 Protect Privacy of Biological Data (bill page read: signed 17 April 2024; effective 7 August 2024). Colorado General Assembly, Denver. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 17Cornejo-Plaza, M.I., Cippitani, R. and Pasquino, V., Chilean Supreme Court ruling on the protection of brain activity: neurorights, personal data protection, and neurodata, Frontiers in Psychology 15, 27 February 2024 (reference record read). Frontiers Media, Lausanne. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 18Lee, B.H., Even Chile neurorights leave inferred mental data in a gray zone, Stanford Law School Law and Biosciences Blog, 27 April 2026 (blog page read; commentary, not a legal text). Stanford University, Stanford. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back