Brain inspiration in neuromorphic computing

Organizers

Emre Neftci | Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen, Germany
Tobias Gemmeke | RWTH Aachen, Germany

Abstract

Neuromorphic computing has gained significant traction in the last decade, encompassing a diverse array of research areas ranging from artificial neural networks to reproductions of biological neural networks. The importance of understanding the principles of brain computation and incorporating them into artificial systems, such as conventional computers or dedicated neuromorphic hardware, is often thought to be critical to advance AI technologies. However, with the advent of powerful vision and language neural network models, the necessity and degree of brain inspiration to achieve intelligence has become a subject of debate. Despite this, the human brain consumes far less energy for similar tasks as current AI while demonstrating greater resilience to ambiguous cues and physical damage. This raises important questions: In which tasks and metrics do brain-inspired, embodied, or physics-based computing outperform conventional computers and theories? Can brain-inspired solutions enhance state-of-the-art artificial neural networks, or do they require fundamentally different architectures? This workshop aims to stimulate an interdisciplinary discussion on the significance of neuroscience-inspired approaches in developing novel computing paradigms.

Schedule (CEST)

Tuesday, Sept 26

14:00

Herbert Jaeger | University of Groningen, The Netherlands
TBA

15:00

Charlotte Frenkel  | Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands 
Merging insights from artificial and biological neural networks – A competitive advantage for neuromorphic edge

16:00

30 min coffee break

16:30

Christian Tetzlaff | University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany
Using neuromorphic computing to investigate synaptic plasticity

17:30

Guillaume Bellec | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne,Switzerland
Spiking compression: low bit-rate audio compression with event-based autoencoders

18:30

End of first day

Wednesday, Sept 27

08:30

Johannes SchemmelHeidelberg University, Germany
Analog circuits for brain emulation – is this still a viable approach?

09:30

Jenia Jitsev | Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

Scalable self-supervised learning and generalization: non-brain and brain inspired perspectives

10:00

30 min coffee break

10:30

Holger Rauhut | Aachen University, Germany
TBA

11:30

Melika Payvand | University of Zurich, Switzerland
What can the structure of brain circuitry at different spatial scales tell us about designing efficient AI hardware?

12:30

End