Neuromorphic Computing Netherlands 2023
2023-10-02 | University of Groningen, Grote Markt 21, Groningen, 9712 HC, Netherlands
The NCN2023 (Neuromorphic Computing in the Netherlands) meeting aims to gather in one place leading experts and junior researchers to discuss current trends and open challenges in the field, from algorithmic, architectural, and application domains. Complementing previous years’ topics, this edition will focus on Bio-inspired computing paradigms and emerging technologies.
For more information, see https://www.rug.nl/research/fse/cognitive-systems-and-materials/news/events/ncn2023/.

7th BigBrain Workshop - Challenges of Big Data Integration
2023-10-04 - 2023-10-06 | Gróska Innovation and business growth center, Bjargargata 1 102, Reykjavík, 101, Iceland
This workshop is an opportunity for the neuroscientific community to come together and present their cutting-edge research, discuss future prospects of the BigBrain associated data and tools, and explore how to better leverage high-performance computing and artificial intelligence to create multimodal, multiresolution tools for the high-resolution BigBrain and related datasets.

International Conference on Neuromorphic, Natural and Physical Computing
2023-10-25 - 2023-10-27 | Hannover, Germany, Castle of Herrenhausen, Hannover, Germany
We are happy to announce the “Neuromorphic, Natural and Physical Computing: Interdisciplinary Foundations (NNPC 2023)”, organized with generous support by the Volkswagen Foundation. The conference will take place the 25th – 27th of October 2023 in Hanover, Germany, and the deadline for submitting a 2-page abstract is March 15th.
The general aim of NNPC 2023 is to boost interdisciplinary transfer of ideas and networking in the wider fields of non-digital computing. NNPC 2023 is a successor to the 2018 conference “Cognitive Computing: Merging Concepts with Hardware” (https://nnpc-conference.com/2018) whose very productive and motivating format will be kept, as well as the location and the generous funding conditions.
Each session is devoted to a specific theme. We encourage active engagement of attendants by requiring submission of a 2-page abstract on a subject relating to one of the session themes. These abstracts are peer-reviewed. From the accepted abstracts three are chosen for oral presentations and the remaining ones for posters. Importantly, novelty is not essential as our aim is to make knowledge to diffuse across boundaries of the scientific domains involved.

HBP Brain Innovation Days 2023
2023-10-26 - 2023-10-27 | Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
The Brain Innovation Days bring the brain ecosystem together to foster dialogue, exchange knowledge, accelerate investment in research & innovation and facilitate business development.
The 3rd edition of the Brain Innovation Days will take place on 26-27 October 2023 in Brussels (Belgium) under the overarching theme “The Brain in the 21st Century”, centred around building resilience and better brain health for future generations and increasing our brains’ readiness to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Get ready for two jam-packed days of high-level brain innovation!

SNUFA Workshop 2023
2023-11-07 - 2023-11-08 | Online
SNUFA is an online workshop and community focused on research advances in the field of “Spiking Networks as Universal Function Approximators”. The annual SNUFA online workshop brings together researchers in spiking neural networks to present their work and discuss translating these findings into a better understanding of neural circuits and novel brain-inspired computing approaches. Topics of interest include artificial and biologically plausible learning algorithms and the dissection of trained spiking circuits toward understanding neural processing.
The workshops are organised by Dan Goodman and Friedemann Zenke.
Register or submit on the website: https://snufa.net/2023/

Timoleon Moraitis @ ONM - Making Neuromorphic Computing Mainstream
2023-11-16 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Berlin) | Online
From the Open Neuromorphic website
Join us for a workshop with Timoleon Moraitis, research group leader in neuromorphic computing, at the interface of computational neuroscience with artificial intelligence.

Jannik Lubeoinski @ INRC - Brian2Lava: connecting the Brian 2 simulator to neuromorphic hardware
2023-11-28 08:00 - 09:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Abstract:
Neuromorphic hardware allows for fast and energy-efficient simulation of spiking neural networks. However, the usage of such devices is still a challenge, as it requires detailed knowledge about the neuromorphic hardware as well as the used software interface, e.g., the Lava framework for neuromorphic computing spearheaded by Intel. This stands in contrast to the relative ease of simulating spiking neural networks on conventional CPU or GPU architectures, for which user-friendly simulation environments exist. The Brian 2 simulator, for instance, allows to readily define a spiking neural network with a set of equations, handling all subsequent hardware interactions.
To link the best of both worlds, we are developing Brain2Lava. Brian2Lava combines the intuitive user interface of Brian 2 with the functionality of Lava. By means of a so-called device for Brian 2, Brian2Lava seamlessly generates and executes the desired simulations in Lava without the need for users to write additional code. At the current stage, Brian2Lava supports most Brian 2 features when executing Lava on CPU, and a selection of essential features for the execution on Intel’s Loihi 2 chip. We are constantly working to expand the number of features supported with the chip, aiming to enable to flexibly execute simulations on different hardware platforms.
In summary, by bridging the gap between user-friendly model definition and neuromorphic implementation, Brian2Lava empowers engineers and neuroscientists alike to leverage the potential of neuromorphic hardware with greater ease and efficiency.
Bio: Jannik Luboeinski is currently a postdoctoral researcher at University of Göttingen. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Physics from Technical University of Darmstadt and Goethe University Frankfurt, respectively. From 2017 to 2021, he did his Ph.D. with Christian Tetzlaff at University of Göttingen, investigating the role of two-phase synaptic plasticity in recurrent spiking neural networks, which resulted in the publication of several journal papers. In 2021, Dr. Luboeinski continued to work in the group of Professor Tetzlaff (now Computational Synaptic Physiology Group) as a postdoctoral researcher. A major aim of his research is to identify properties that enable efficient memory processes in biological and artificial neural systems. His work currently focuses on neuromorphic computing and the development of simulation software for recurrent spiking neural networks.
Meeting link to join is available to INRC members and affiliates on the INRC Forum Schedule (click here).
If you are not yet a member of the INRC, please see the “Joining the INRC link” below.
For the recording and slides, see the full INRC Forum 2023 Schedule (accessible only to INRC Affiliates and Engaged Members).
If you are interested in becoming a member, here is the information about ”Joining the INRC.”

IEEE ICRC 2023
2023-12-05 - 2023-12-06 | San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
The IEEE International Conference on Rebooting Computing is the premier venue for novel computing approaches, including algorithms and languages, system software, system and network architectures, new devices and circuits, and applications of new materials and physics. This is an interdisciplinary conference that has participation from a broad technical community, with emphasis on all aspects of the computing stack.
IEEE ICRC 2023 is an in-person event with an option for virtual attendance. While all speakers will deliver their talks in-person, attendees will have the option of attending the conference virtually. Check that option when you REGISTER!
The International Roadmap on Devices and Systems (IRDS) will also be featured at ICRC 2023 with talks from academia, industry, and government research centers spanning materials, devices, circuits, and systems for computing.

Michael Jurado @ INRC - Enhancing Performance and Efficiency of SNNs
2023-12-05 08:00 - 09:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Title:
Enhancing Performance and Efficiency of SNNs: From Spike-Based Loss Improvements to Synaptic Sparsification Techniques.
Abstract:
The introduction of offline training capabilities like Spike Layer Error Reassignment in Time (SLAYER) and advancements in the probabilistic interpretations of Spiking Neural Network (SNN) output reinforce SNNs as a viable alternative to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). However, special care must be taken during Surrogate Gradient (SG) training to achieve desired performance and efficiency. This talk will cover our recent work in improving spike-based loss functions for SNNs as well as sparsifying SNNs for low cost, high performant neuromorphic computing.
Spikemax was previously introduced as a family of differentiable loss methods which use windowed spike counts to form classification probabilities. We modify the Spikemaxs loss method to use rates and a scaling parameter instead of counts to form Scaled-Spikemax. Our mathematical analysis shows that an appropriate scaling term can yield less coarse probability outputs from the SNN and help smooth the gradient of the loss during training. Experimentally, we show that Scaled-Spikemax achieves faster training convergence than Spikemax and results in relative improvements of 4.2% and 9.9% in accuracy for NMNIST and N-TIDIGITS18, respectively. We then extend Scaled-Spikemax to construct a spike-based loss function for multi-label classification called Spikemoid. The viability of Spikemoid is shown via the first known multi-label classification results on N-TIDIGITS18 and 2NMNIST, a novel variation of NMNIST that superimposes event-driven sensory data.
However, SNNs trained through SG methods oftentimes use dense or convolutional connections which are not always suitable for Loihi2. In order to minimize core usage and power consumption on chip, we employ synaptic pruning techniques as part of our SNN training pipelines. We demonstrate the effectiveness of synaptic pruning techniques for ANN to SNN conversion of vgg16 on Loihi1 as well as for a lava-dl trained SNN for the Intel DNS Challenge. This later approach involved the use of Gradual Magnitude Pruning (GMP) applied during SLAYER training, which reduced the memory footprint of the baseline SDNN by 50-75%. We highlight infrastructure changes to netX which enable conversion of lava-dl trained SNNs into sparsity aware lava processes.
Meeting link to join is available to INRC members and affiliates on the INRC Forum Schedule (click here).
If you are not yet a member of the INRC, please see the “Joining the INRC link” below.
Bio: Michael Jurado is a research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He studied computer science at Georgia Tech and received his master’s degree in Machine Learning in 2022. Lately, Michael has been studying and developing neuromorphic algorithms for edge computing and a regular contributor to the lava code base. In his free time, he likes to read and study languages.

For the recording and slides, see the full INRC Forum 2023 Schedule (accessible only to INRC Affiliates and Engaged Members).
If you are interested in becoming a member, here is the information about ”Joining the INRC.

NeurIPS 2023
2023-12-10 - 2023-12-16 | New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, United States
Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2023
NeurIPS 2023 will be held again at the at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

The conference was founded in 1987 and is now a multi-track interdisciplinary annual meeting that includes invited talks, demonstrations, symposia, and oral and poster presentations of refereed papers. Along with the conference is a professional exposition focusing on machine learning in practice, a series of tutorials, and topical workshops that provide a less formal setting for the exchange of ideas.

NeuroEng Workshop @ Western Sydney University
2023-12-11 - 2023-12-13 | St George Sailing Club, 2 Riverside Drive, Sans Souci, Sydney, NSW, Australia
The International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems welcomes NeuroEng Association members and guests to join in a 3-day workshop focusing on computational neuroscience and neuromorphic engineering as well providing a valuable platform for networking and collaboration.
Hosted at the newly refurbished St George Sailing Club, attendees will be treated to sensational waterfront views of the Georges River and the pristine beaches of the Sans Souci and Botany Bay region – a hidden gem known to locals. Furthermore, guests can enjoy a number of local accommodation options as well as an array of activities in the area.
Prepare for a workshop that combines cutting-edge knowledge sharing with the serenity of a beach setting. We look forward to welcoming you to the 2023 ICNS NeuroEng Workshop!
Call for abstracts until October 31st, 2023.

Kade Heckel @ ONM - Neuromorphic Hackathon with Spyx
2023-12-13 06:00 - 08:00 (Europe/Berlin) | Online
From the open-neuromorphic.org website:
Join us on December 13th for an exciting Spyx hackathon and ONM talk! Learn how to use and contribute to Spyx , a high-performance spiking neural network library, and gain insights into the latest developments in neuromorphic frameworks. The session will cover Spyx’s utilization of memory and GPU to maximize training throughput, along with discussions on the evolving landscape of neuromorphic computing.
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with experts, collaborate on cutting-edge projects, and explore the potential of Spyx in shaping the future of neuromorphic computing. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just curious about the field, this event promises valuable insights and hands-on experience.
Agenda:

18:00 – 19:00: Spyx Introduction

Dive into Spyx, its features, and how to contribute
Hands-on session: Explore Spyx functionalities and tackle real-world challenges
Q&A and collaborative discussions

19:00 – 20:00: Hackathon

Collaborate on cutting-edge projects and explore the potential of Spyx
Q&A and collaborative discussions

Speakers:

Kade Heckel

Note: The event will be hosted virtually. Stay tuned for the video link and further updates. Let’s come together to push the boundaries of neuromorphic computing!

Brad Aimone @ ONM - Programming Scalable Neuromorphic Algorithms With Fugu
2023-12-19 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Berlin) | Online
From the Open Neuromorphic website
Explore neural-inspired computing with Brad Aimone, a leading neuroscientist at Sandia Labs. Join us for insights into next-gen technology and neuroscience.

Cristian Axenie @ ONM - Hybrid Learning for Event-Based Visual Motion Detection and Tracking of Pedestrians
2024-01-15 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Online
The Vision Zero Program’s purpose is to reduce traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries while promoting equitable, safe, and healthy mobility for all. Ultimately, the challenge is to detect pedestrians during the day and especially at night in order to implement safety measures.
The current study introduces an award-winning low-power solution employing neuromorphic visual sensing and hybrid neuro-statistical processing developed by the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg team for the TinyML Vision Zero San Jose Competition. The solution proposes a novel neuromorphic edge fusion of spiking neural networks and event-based expectation maximization for the detection and tracking of pedestrians and bicyclists.
We provide a deployment-ready evaluation of the detection performance along with robustness, energy footprint, and weatherization while emphasizing the advantages of the neuro-statistical edge solution and its city-level scaling capabilities.

About the Speaker
Dr. Axenie is Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Research Group Leader in Cognitive Neurocomputing at the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm in Germany.
After earning a Dr. Eng. Sc. in Neuroscience and Robotics from the Technical University of Munich in 2016, Dr. Axenie joined the Huawei Research Center in Munich. Between 2017 and 2023 Dr. Axenie was Staff Research Engineer with Huawei Research Center. At the same time, Dr. Axenie was the Principal Investigator and Head of the Audi Konfuzius-Institut Ingolstadt Laboratory at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt.
Dr. Axenie is a seasoned researcher with more than 15 years of academic research and more than 10 years of industrial research experience. His research was disseminated in more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than 10 patents. Currently Dr. Axenie focuses on sustainable and efficient deployment of intelligent algorithms for sensor fusion and closed-loop control.

HiPEAC 2024
2024-01-17 - 2024-01-19 | Munich, Munich, Germany
19th International Conference on High Performance, Edge And Cloud computing
The HiPEAC conference is the premier European forum for experts in computer architecture, programming models, compilers and operating systems for embedded and general-purpose systems.
The 19th HiPEAC conference will take place in Munich, Germany from Wednesday 17 to Friday 19 January, 2024. Associated workshops, tutorials, special sessions, several large poster sessions and an industrial exhibition will run in parallel with the conference. The three-day event attracts over 500+ delegates each year.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
· Processor, memory, interconnect, and storage architectures
· Parallel, multi-core and heterogeneous systems
· Interconnection networks
· Architectural support for programming productivity
· Power, performance and implementation efficient designs
· Reliability and real-time support in processors, compilers and run-time systems
· Application-specific processors, accelerators and reconfigurable processors
· Architecture and programming environments for GPU-based computing
· Architectural simulation and methodology
· Architectural and run-time support for programming languages
· Programming models, frameworks and environments for exploiting parallelism
· Program characterization and analysis techniques
· Dynamic compilation, adaptive execution, and continuous profiling/optimization
· Binary translation/optimization
· Code size/memory footprint optimizations
· Architectures for emerging technologies such as neuromorphic, photonics, quantum, etc.
· Machine learning applied to the above
· Computing systems research from application studies

Carlos Ortega-Otero @ ONM - IBM NorthPole: Neural Inference at the Frontier of Energy, Space, and Time
2024-01-25 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Online
Abstract
Computing, since its inception, has been processor-centric, with memory separated from compute. Inspired by the organic brain and optimized for inorganic silicon, NorthPole is a neural inference architecture that blurs this boundary by eliminating off-chip memory, intertwining compute with memory on-chip, and appearing externally as an active memory chip. NorthPole is a low-precision, massively parallel, densely interconnected, energy-efficient, and spatial computing architecture with a co-optimized, high-utilization programming model.
On the ResNet50 benchmark image classification network, relative to a graphics processing unit (GPU) that uses a comparable 12-nanometer technology process, NorthPole achieves a 25 times higher energy metric of frames per second (FPS) per watt, a 5 times higher space metric of FPS per transistor, and a 22 times lower time metric of latency. Similar results are reported for the Yolo-v4 detection network.
NorthPole outperforms all prevalent architectures, even those that use more-advanced technology processes.
About the Speaker

Dr. Carlos Ortega-Otero is an Sr. Research Staff Member at IBM driven by a passion in Circuit Design, Neuromorphic Chip Architectures, Low-Power Circuits and Physical Design optimizations. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University under the guidance of Prof. Rajit Manohar.
Throughout his career, he has worked in groundbreaking projects, including Ultra-Low Power Asynchronous Sensor Network nodes, Medical Implantable Wireless Sensors, The TrueNorth Brain-Inspired Chip, and the NorthPole Project. At IBM, Carlos works under the leadership of Dr. Dharmendra Modha in the Brain-Inspired Computing Group.
He plays key roles in Architecture, Specification, Digital Implementation, Physical Design, Timing Signoff, and Manufacturing teams of the NorthPole Project. Carlos is proud to be part of the Brain-Inspired Computing Group at IBM that continues to shape the future of Integrated Circuits and AI.

Jens E. Pedersen @ ONM - NIR: A Unified Instruction Set for Brain-Inspired Computing
2024-02-05 18:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Online
Have you wondered how to use neuromorphic hardware platforms?
Are you depressed by your power bill after you bought your >400W GPU rig?
Then you came to the right place!
In this workshop, we will show you how to move models from your favourite framework directly to neuromorphic hardware with 1-2 lines of code! We will present the technology behind, the Neuromorphic Intermediate Representation , and demonstrate how we can use it to run a live spiking convnet on the Speck chip.
NIR is currently supported by Intel Loihi , Speck , SpiNNaker2 , Xylo and a host of simulators, including Norse , snnTorch , and Spyx .
Join us on the 5th of February to get your own hands-on experience with NIR and neuromorphic hardware!
All it requires is a computer and a bit of Python knowledge.
Agenda:

18:00 – 19:00: NIR introduction

Motivation: coupling neuromorphic hardware and software
Demonstrating NIR: from PyTorch to Speck
Q&A

19:00 – 20:00: Workshop

Hands-on experience with NIR via Jupyter Notebooks or custom models
Q&A and collaborative discussions

Speakers:

Jens E. Pedersen , PhD at the Neurocomputing Systems lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Note: The event will be hosted virtually. Stay tuned for the video link and further updates.

About the Speaker
Jens is a computer scientist studying his PhD in neuromorphic computing at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Jens co-authored the Norse simulator and the AEStream event-based streaming library.

Mahyar Shahsavari @ ELLIS MeetUp Nijmegen: Revolutionizing Intelligence
2024-02-07 16:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Title:
“Revolutionizing Intelligence: Bridging Minds and Machines with Neuromorphic Computing”
Abstract
Neuromorphic event-driven systems emulate the computational mechanisms of the brain through the utilization of spiking neural networks (SNN). Neuromorphic systems serve two primary application domains: simulating neural information processing in neuroscience and acting as accelerators for cognitive computing in engineering applications.
In this seminar, we delve into the core principles of neuromorphic paradigm. Mahyar will discuss how this innovative approach addresses the limitations of traditional AI models in computation, ushering in a new era of efficiency, adaptability, and parallel processing.
The presentation highlights key advancements, such as spiking neural networks and neuromorphic hardware, demonstrating their pivotal role in achieving brain-like computation and real-time processing. In this seminar the potential applications in industry, robotics, edge computing and beyond will be discussed, ultimately inviting the audience to envision a harmonious integration of minds and machines through the revolutionary lens of neuromorphic computing.
Microsoft Teams Seminar Link

AAAI 2024
2024-02-20 - 2024-02-27 | Vancouver, Canada, Vancouver, Canada
38th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
The purpose of the AAAI conference series is to promote research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and foster scientific exchange between researchers, practitioners, scientists, students, and engineers across the entirety of AI and its affiliated disciplines. AAAI-24 will feature technical paper presentations, special tracks, invited speakers, workshops, tutorials, poster sessions, senior member presentations, competitions, and exhibit programs, and a range of other activities to be announced.
We expect for AAAI-24 to be an in-person conference – one author of all accepted papers will be expected to present work in person unless there are exceptional circumstances that prevent this.

Driven by its disciplinary diversity, AAAI has incubated numerous AI sub-disciplines and conferences and has nurtured for decades the cohesion of AI. New communities often emerge when two or more disciplines come together in order to explore new opportunities and perspectives; today, both are plentiful. The purpose of this year’s Bridge Program is to tap into new sources of innovation by cultivating collaboration between two or more communities directed towards a common goal. Our interpretation of bridges is broad and encompasses disciplines within and outside of AI. Hence, the communities that our Bridge Program is intended to bring together could be distinct subfields of AI, such as planning and learning, or different disciplines that contribute to and benefit from AI, such as AI and the humanities.

Neuronics 2024
2024-02-21 - 2024-02-23 | Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Neuronics Conference 2024
Brain-inspired neuromorphic computing has emerged as a promising solution to overcome the computation bottlenecks in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. However, traditional CMOS technologies, which heavily relied on silicon, face significant challenges such as volatility and energy inefficiency. These obstacles have hindered the rapid progress in the field. Thankfully, recent developments in novel memory and memristive technologies, have revitalized the pursuit of efficient and high-performance neuromorphic computing systems.
This conference aims to present the current status and cutting-edge advancements in the development of neuromorphic devices that emulate biological neural processes through device physics. A particular focus will be placed on memristive technologies as a promising devices for implementing various neuromorphic functions, including artificial synapses, neurons, and dendrites. The different material platforms include conjugated polymers, hydrogels, nonmetal oxides, correlated oxides, transition metal oxides (TMOs), chalcogenides, carbon-based materials, phase change, ferroelectric materials, piezoelectric materials,magnetics materials, fluidics, and nanocomposites.
The conference will also highlight the emerging fields of bioinspired ionotronics and mixed ionic-electronic-photonic materials. These areas focus on leveraging ionic motion and arrangement to control electronic properties and functions, enabling the development of various functional devices. Topics of discussion will include electrolyte gating as an alternative to chemical doping, organic and halide perovskites transistors, various types of memristors, ionic channels, and their implications in the advancement of neuromorphic computing.
Researchers will showcase circuits demonstrating full neuromorphic functionality, such as unsupervised learning, pattern recognition in neural networks, and the neuroscientific aspects of artificial intelligence. Moreover, the conference will explore the advancements in programmed/directed self-assembly and stimuli-responsive systems, as well as their applications in smart sensing systems. These systems encompass a wide range of applications, including optical sensing, temperature sensing, gas sensing, strain sensing, and more. The conference will also delve into haptic systems, biosensors, and image sensors, exploring their integration with neuromorphic computing paradigms.
The conference will address the listed topics in an holistic view and joining together an interdisciplinary community from different research fields, such as electronic, materials science, nanotechnology, engineering, computer science, neurobiology, computational neuroscience, neural and biomedical-engineering.
Join us at this conference to engage in insightful discussions, share knowledge, and explore the exciting possibilities that brain-inspired neuromorphic computing and device physics offer for the future of artificial intelligence and computing systems.

Aaron Spieler @ ONM - The ELM Neuron: An Efficient and Expressive Cortical Neuron Model Can Solve Long-Horizon Tasks
2024-02-27 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Online
From the Open Neuromorphic website.
Biological cortical neurons are remarkably sophisticated computational devices, temporally integrating their vast synaptic input over an intricate dendritic tree, subject to complex, nonlinearly interacting internal biological processes.
With the aim to explore the computational implications of leaky memory units and nonlinear dendritic processing, we introduce the Expressive Leaky Memory (ELM) neuron model, a biologically inspired phenomenological model of a cortical neuron. Remarkably, by exploiting a few such slowly decaying memory-like hidden states and two-layered nonlinear integration of synaptic input, our ELM neuron can accurately match the aforementioned input-output relationship with under ten-thousand trainable parameters.
We evaluate the model on various tasks with demanding temporal structures, including the Long Range Arena (LRA) datasets, as well as a novel neuromorphic dataset based on the Spiking Heidelberg Digits dataset (SHD-Adding). The ELM neuron reliably outperforms the classic Transformer or Chrono-LSTM architectures on these tasks, even solving the Pathfinder-X task with over 70% accuracy (16k context length).

About the Speaker
Aaron Spieler is a computational neuroscientist passionate about exploring the intersection of deep learning and neuroscience. After earning his Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Potsdam, he undertook an extended internship at Amazon Web Services working in deep learning based forecasting, before further specializing with a Master’s in Computational Neuroscience at the University of Tübingen. Throughout his Master’s thesis and a subsequent internship at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Aaron focused on phenomenological neuron modeling with applications to long-range prediction tasks. Pursuing this work allowed him to collaborate with excellent researchers from diverse backgrounds, including Prof. Bernhard Schölkopf and Prof. Anna Levina.

Maxence Ernoult @ ONM: Accelerating Neuromorphic Inference and Training at the Edge @ Rain
2024-03-05 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Berlin) | Online
From the Open Neuromorphic website.

Maxence will present us Rain’s vision and technological roadmap to build hardware optimized for inference and training at the edge including both the hardware and algorithm aspects with an emphasis on why physical and mathematical principles matter more to him than biological inspiration.

About the Speaker
Maxence Ernoult graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and the University of Cambridge in 2016, specializing in applied mathematics and theoretical physics. His PhD research was conducted in neuromorphic computing at Sorbonne University, in collaboration with Mila. During this time, he specialized in developing hardware-friendly alternatives to backpropagation and played a significant role in scaling up several of these alternatives, including Equilibrium Propagation and Difference Target Propagation. This work was undertaken alongside notable figures such as Ben Scellier, Blake Richards, and Yoshua Bengio. In 2021, Maxence joined IBM Research, focusing on AI safety. Subsequently, in 2022, he began a new position at Rain.

Neuromorphic technology: a giant leap for AI
2024-03-26 - 2024-03-28 | Online
This event will convene a community of researchers and innovators working on cutting-edge neuromorphic hardware and brain-inspired algorithms. This is an AI UK Fringe event supported by the Alan Turing Institute.
While the transformative potential of neuromorphic technology for the future of AI and computing has gained recognition in the USA National AI R&D Strategic Plan, a similar community has only recently taken root in the UK. To secure UK leadership in this strategically important technology requires urgent attention. Recognizing this imperative, Innovate UK’s Horizon Scanning team has embarked on the task of consolidating UK neuromorphic research and innovation. The proposed event aims to catalyze and amplify these efforts, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange within a broad neuromorphic stakeholder community. Loughborough University is one of the key research centres in this field, having a track record of hosting three recent world-leading neuromorphic workshops and established a diverse network both within the UK and across the globe.
Register via: this form

Tobias Fischer @ ONM - Advances in Neuromorphic Visual Place Recognition
2024-04-18 23:00 - 2024-04-19 00:30 (Europe/Berlin) | Online
From the Open Neuromorphic website.
About the Speaker
Tobias conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of intelligent robotics, computer vision, and computational cognition. My main goal is to develop high-performing, bio-inspired computer vision algorithms that simultaneously examine animals/humans and robots’ perceptional capabilities. He is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Robotics. He joined the Centre as an Associate Investigator and Research Fellow in January 2020. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Personal Robotics Lab at Imperial College London. He received a PhD from Imperial College in January 2019. His thesis was awarded the UK Best Thesis in Robotics Award 2018 and the Eryl Cadwaladr Davies Award for the best thesis in Imperial’s EEE Department in 2017-2018. He previously received an M.Sc. degree (distinction) in Artificial Intelligence from The University of Edinburgh in 2014 and a B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany, in 2013. His works have attracted two best poster awards, one best paper award, and he was the senior author of the winning submission to the Facebook Mapillary Place Recognition Challenge 2020.

IEEE AICAS 2024
2024-04-22 - 2024-04-25 | Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The 6th IEEE International Conference on
Artificial Intelligence Circuits and Systems (IEEE AICAS 2024)
Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE | April 22-25, 2024
Paper Submission | Registration
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is driving a revolution in information technology as well as in many industries. New computing paradigms are required to support the emerging AI algorithms and applications, running on a diversity of platforms, from edge devices to cloud servers and from circuit level to system level. Addressing this challenge and opportunity, the AICAS conference has been established as the premier conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society to promote and facilitate state-of-the-art research, innovation, and development activities at the frontiers of artificial intelligence circuits and systems. It serves as an excellent platform allowing world scholars, technology researchers, and industry to exchange experiences, demonstrate their studies, and further advance AI circuits and systems technologies.

NICE 2024
2024-04-23 - 2024-04-26 | La Jolla, California, La Jolla, CA, United States
Neuro Inspired Computational Elements Conference (NICE) 2024

NICE’2024 will be held in La Jolla, California, USA on April 23-26, 2024.

Tuesday, 23 April 2024 – Thursday, 25 April 2024 for the main workshop
Friday, 26 April 2024 for the parallel hands-on tutorials

At this conference, we will:

Present applications that are looking for solutions that are beyond the capabilities of current computational systems,
Highlight technical approaches that are at the early to middle stages of development for new computational systems,
Identify pathways and resources to accelerate the development of these new systems.

Attendance: 200-250 from neuroscience, systems, microelectronics, applications, potential funding agencies.

Venue in La Jolla
The venue is Scripps Seaside Forum right on the beach for three days of inspiring keynotes and lectures, interactive posters, and live demonstrations, with an extra day of illuminating tutorials at the nearby UC San Diego Institute for Neural Computation.
See the NICE 2024 venue information page for a map and a list of hotels offering special conditions for NICE attendants.

A lot of NICE talks are available in the NICE YouTube channel.

CapoCaccia 2024: Workshop toward Neuromorphic Intelligence
2024-04-28 - 2024-05-12 | Alghero, Sardinia, Italy, Alghero, Sardinia, Italy
Theme for 2024: “Do robots dream of evolving sheep?”
During the last couple of years we have experienced groundbreaking advances in AI. Transformer architectures are revolutionizing the way we deal with today’s vast amount of available data, and are having a massive impact in our society. Despite these advancements, AI systems still fall short of replicating the most basic yet highly sophisticated capabilities inherent in biological organisms: the effortless ability to sense, navigate and interact efficiently with our environment.
In this workshop we will center our discussions on exploring which bio-inspired principles could be incorporated into neuromorphic “brains” to successfully guide future robots in noisy and unpredictable environments. Towards the end of the workshop we will revolve around one of the most fundamental distinctions between biological organisms and current AI systems: that biological intelligence emerges in the absence of any external designer. Biological brains evolved sophisticated algorithms to build themselves into powerful computational devices. Will this be the key to the future of robotics?.
The mission of the CapoCaccia Workshops for Neuromorphic Intelligence is to understand the principles of biological intelligence and apply this knowledge in technologies, for the good of all mankind.
The workshop features open and highly interactive discussion sessions in the morning; hands-on projects, tutorials, and hardware and software jamming sessions during the day; and free-form discussions in the evenings.
The workshop is open to everyone, but since resources are limited, we can accept only a limited number of registrations. Due to the limited number of hotel rooms, Ph.D. students are expected to pair up and share rooms. All participants are encouraged to stay for the full two week period, but can stay for less if necessary.
Participants are expected to use their own sources of funding to pay their travel, accommodation, and registration expenses.

The registration will be open from Jan 08 until Jan 31, 2024.

ICONS 2024 Paper Deadline
2024-04-30 | Online
CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference on Neuromorphic Systems (ICONS) 2024
Important Dates:
April 30, 2024: Submissions due
May 15, 2024: Reviews due
June 6, 2024: Decision notification
July 30-August 2, 2024: Conference
With the looming end of the “Moore’s Law” era, there is an emerging challenge to “create a new type of computer that can proactively interpret and learn from data, solve unfamiliar problems using what it has learned, and operate with the energy efficiency of the human brain.”
Neuromorphic computing will play a major role in this challenge and has the potential to transform the way we use computers through new materials, new brain-inspired chips, greater understanding of neuroscience, and breakthroughs in machine understanding/intelligence. Neuromorphic computing systems have the potential to mimic the functionality of neural systems in the brain, which we believe will lead to more powerful and efficient computing paradigms. The goal of this conference is to bring together leading researchers in neuromorphic computing to present new research, develop new collaborations, and provide a forum to publish work in this area.
RESEARCH PAPERS ARE REQUESTED FOR TOPICS ON NEUROMORPHIC COMPUTING, SPECIFICALLY IN FOUR FOCUS AREAS:

Systems, architectures, and circuits

Network, neuron, and synapse models
Non-von Neumann computing architectures and models
Emerging devices and hardware implementations
Event or spike-based systems
Neuromorphic circuits
Novel brain-inspired system architectures

Machine intelligence algorithms for programming or training neuromorphic devices

Supervised, unsupervised and self-supervised learning methods
Biologically-inspired algorithms
Adaptations to existing algorithms for use on or with neuromorphic systems

Applications for and use-cases of neuromorphic systems

Applications where neuromorphic systems have the potential to outperform state-of-the-art techniques
Suggestions for benchmark tasks for neuromorphic computing
Neuromorphic datasets

Supporting software and systems for neuromorphic systems

Efficient simulation techniques for hardware and large-scale networks
Compilers and programming frameworks
Visualization tools

Note: Submissions outside the scope of these areas, including materials science and neuroscience, will also be considered (especially for lightning talks and posters), although they are not the focus of this conference.
WE ARE ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS IN THE FOLLOWING FORMATS:

Full papers (6-8 pages), which will be considered for full (20 minute) presentations. Full papers should present original research and will be included in the conference proceedings. The page limit includes references, appendix and any other material that would accompany the paper.
Short papers (3-4 pages), which will be considered for full presentations and/or lightning talks. Short papers can be position papers or present preliminary results and will be included in the conference proceedings. The page limit includes references, appendix and any other material that would accompany the paper.
Extended abstracts (1 page) for lightning talks and/or poster presentations. Extended abstracts will not be included in the conference proceedings.
Tutorial submissions (2-3 pages) for 1-2 hour tutorial sessions. Tutorials should include a hands-on component for tutorial attendees to work on or interact with neuromorphic software or hardware. Tutorials should be led by no more than three facilitators. Unlike paper and abstract submissions, tutorial submissions should be submitted via email to Melika Payvand and Maryam Parsa at melika [at] ini.uzh.ch and mparsa [at] gmu.edu.
Special session submissions (2-3 pages) for 1-2 hour special sessions. Special sessions should include invited presentations on a specific topic. Special session submissions will not be included in the conference proceedings. Unlike paper and abstract submissions, special session submissions should be submitted via email to Melika Payvand and Maryam Parsa at melika [at] ini.uzh.ch and mparsa [at] gmu.edu

Program Co-Chairs:
Melika Payvand, Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
Maryam Parsa, George Mason University
Submission Website: Coming soon

Sangyeob Kim @ ONM - C-DNN and C-Transformer: Mixing ANNs and SNNs for the Best of Both Worlds
2024-05-04 11:00 - 12:15 (America/New_York) | Online
From the Open Neuromorphic website.
Sangyeob and his team have developed a C-DNN processor that effectively processes object recognition workloads, achieving 51.3% higher energy efficiency compared to the previous state-of-the-art processor. Subsequently, they have applied C-DNN not only to image classification but also to other applications, and have developed the C-Transformer, which applies this technique to a Large Language Model (LLM). As a result, they demonstrate that the energy consumed in LLM can be reduced by 30% to 72% using the C-DNN technique, compared to the previous state-of-the-art processor. In this talk, we will introduce the processor developed for C-DNN and C-Transformer, and discuss how neuromorphic computing can be used in actual applications in the future.

About the Speaker
Sangyeob Kim (Student Member, IEEE) received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea, in 2018, 2020 and 2023, respectively. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Associate with the KAIST. His current research interests include energy-efficient system-on-chip design, especially focused on deep neural network accelerators, neuromorphic hardware, and computing-in-memory accelerators.

Morpheus 2024: ESA workshop on Edge AI and Neuromorphic hardware accelerators
2024-05-06 - 2024-05-07 | ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk, 2201 AZ, Netherlands
From the emerging needs identified by ESA and Satellites Primes, the workshop as a main goal, will focus on establishing the contour of a future AI accelerator and define the associated roadmap. By gathering Satellites Primes, IP providers, Researchers and other key players, the workshop also aims at leveraging interest and creating synergies in Europe and beyond.
