# Hon Weng Chong

Founder and CEO, Cortical Labs. TIME100 AI 2026, Innovators. A medical doctor by background, he founded Cortical Labs, which grows neurons on silicon; its CL1 is the first biological computer available outside a research lab. ([thoughteconomics.com](https://thoughteconomics.com/hon-wen-chong/))

- Education: MBBS/BMedSci, Medicine, University of Melbourne, 2012 ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hochong), [snfnostos.org](https://snfnostos.org/en/participants/hon-weng-chong/))
- Career: Cortical Labs (Founder and CEO, 2019–2026); Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (Research Fellow, 2017–2018); CliniCloud (Co-founder and CTO, 2014–2018); Peninsula Health (Doctor, 2013–2014); StethoCloud (Founder, 2012–2013); AppBryonic Labs (Founder, 2011) ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hochong), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7499950857522786305-_f6i), [snfnostos.org](https://snfnostos.org/en/participants/hon-weng-chong/))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/hon-weng-chong/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/hon-weng-chong

- Worked as a Linux developer for his own high school, Melbourne Grammar, from 2003 to 2005. ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hochong))
- Coined the term synthetic biological intelligence to describe what Cortical Labs' lab-grown neurons do. ([thoughteconomics.com](https://thoughteconomics.com/hon-wen-chong/))
- Founded Cortical Labs in 2019 after reading a paper by Demis Hassabis urging AI researchers to go back to neuroscience. ([thoughteconomics.com](https://thoughteconomics.com/hon-wen-chong/))
- Cortical Labs' CL1, launched in 2025, is described as the first biological computer available outside a research lab. ([thoughteconomics.com](https://thoughteconomics.com/hon-wen-chong/))
- Says the CL1, which joins lab-grown neurons with silicon hardware, uses about 30 watts, versus thousands of watts for a GPU. ([thoughteconomics.com](https://thoughteconomics.com/hon-wen-chong/))
- Announced in August 2026 that he had resigned from Cortical Labs after seven years. ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7499950857522786305-_f6i))