Based in Singapore and Australia, Cortical Labs is a true technology disruptor by merging the fields of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology. The four-year-old startup has successfully combined lab-grown human brain cells and silicon chips, hoping it can develop a new sort of information processor, one that can independently learn, adapt, and create solutions.
Having received millions of dollars in funding, headed by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, Cortical Lab’s pioneering technology has transformative implications for manufacturing, robotics, scientific research, and healthcare.
At the helm of Cortical Labs is CEO Hon Weng Chong, whose career path has been marked by constant excitement, unwavering perseverance, and deep curiosity.
There are things that you can biologically overcome if you spend a lot of time on it.
Cortical Labs CEO Hon Weng Chong
“I’m actually a medical doctor by training. I went to the University of Melbourne and did six years of medical school. In between, I did a research stint at Johns Hopkins. I was really into tech. I was also a self-taught programmer. For the first time, I was able to meld the two different disciplines together and was excited,” Hon recalled.
Despite the early excitement, Hon’s initial venture did not go as planned. But with his sense of purpose and curiosity intact, he stayed the course.
“I decided to go back to the literature and I was reading research papers. The paper that caught my attention was one written by Demis Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind. He published a paper wherein he called for the machine learning and artificial intelligence community to reengage with the neuroscience space because that was where most initial discoveries were made. And I did exactly that,” he said.
Setting clear goals is another hallmark of Hon’s leadership.
“I set the goal of the company, which was to prove we could get these neurons grown outside the human body. There are things that you can biologically overcome if you spend a lot of time on it,” he explained.
Although very ambitious, the company’s clear objective has guided all its efforts to make these breakthroughs in organic-digital intelligence.
Cortical Labs is focused on making its revolutionary technology more accessible, knowing that it will benefit the world as a whole and improve the lives of billions of people.
“It’s all about being brave because people can benefit from it,” Hon said.
