Revolutionising energy-efficient AI computing with neuromorphic technologies

Abstract

A total of €30m, comprising public and private funding, has been awarded by the Dutch funding agency NWO to a consortium that aims to accelerate research, innovation, and application of neuromorphic technologies. Modern computing faces a critical sustainability challenge, as data centres and emerging technologies, such as autonomous systems, edge artificial intelligence (AI), and personalised medicine, demand exponentially increasing amounts of energy and real-time processing. Neuromorphic technologies offer promising solutions by enabling ultra-efficient, event-driven processing. The proposed long-term (ten years) programme 10X-Factor(y) seeks to establish an integrated, industry-driven initiative to accelerate research, innovation, and application of neuromorphic technologies. 10X-Factor(y) will do that by supporting an ecosystem in which technology developers team up with end users. The selected use cases deal with problems that are shared by different application areas, enhancing the impact of the demonstrators. Globally, neuromorphic computing is advancing through initiatives like Intel’s Loihi, IBM’s TrueNorth, SpINNcloud’s SPINNAKER, and various others, demonstrating substantial energy savings. However, large-scale deployment remains hindered by fragmentation across materials, devices, systems, and software. Neuromorphic AI also requires new machine learning methods that depend on close hardware–algorithm co-design. Such integration needs to be guided by industrial needs to ensure that outcomes are relevant, deployable, and support privacy, sovereignty, and sustainability. The Netherlands is well-positioned to lead this effort. Major research institutions, that are members of the 10x - Factor(y) consortium, cover the full innovation spectrum from materials science to AI, strengthened by National initiatives such as NC-NL, Mission10X and projects like NL-ECO. Yet, there is an urgent need to translate this knowledge into impact by creating a coherent ecosystem that lowers the threshold for end-user companies (also from outside the Netherlands) to adopt neuromorphic technologies.