Elon Musk's Neuralink said on Wednesday it has received approval to launch its first clinical trial in Canada for a device designed to give paralysed individuals the ability to use digital devices simply by thinking.

The brain chip startup said the Canadian study aims to assess the safety and initial functionality of its implant which enables people with quadriplegia, or paralysis of all four limbs, to control external devices with their thoughts.

Canada's University Health Network hospital said in a separate statement that its Toronto facility had been selected to perform the complex neurosurgical procedure.

Regulator Health Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the United States, Neuralink has already implanted the device in two patients. The company says the device is working well in the second trial patient, who has been using it to play video games and learn how to design 3D objects.

Founded in 2016 by Musk and a group of engineers, Neuralink is also building a brain chip interface that can be implanted within the skull, which it says could eventually help disabled patients to move and communicate again, and restore vision.

In September, the startup received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "breakthrough device" designation for its experimental implant aimed at restoring vision.