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Thanks to the support of the German Manfred Stärk Foundation for Brain Research, the University of Bern has been able to establish an endowed professorship for neuromorphic systems. This is endowed with 3.6 million Swiss francs and will strengthen successful research in theoretical neuroscience at the University of Bern.
Neuromorphic systems and neuromorphic computing form an interdisciplinary field between neuroscience, artificial intelligence and engineering. They aim to develop circuits and hardware (chips) that can map the self-organising and self-regulating characteristics of the brain. Neuromorphic chips are suitable, among other things, as medical implants for damaged human tissue such as the retina. Neuromorphic systems can also help to optimise the movement sequences of robots or improve their pattern recognition using an artificial, self-learning system. Other future applications lie wherever data needs to be processed in real time, such as for autonomous driving.
Continuation of Bernese research in the Human Brain Project
"At the University of Bern, research in the theoretical neurosciences is internationally renowned and broadly based," says Christian Leumann, Rector of the University of Bern. There is a professorship for "Machine Learning for Medicine", which is based at the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Medicine, as well as several research groups in the Faculty of Medicine that work in the field of neuromorphic hardware and are based at the Faculty of Medicine. Human Brain Project were involved. The aim of this international project was to summarise knowledge about the human brain and reproduce it using computer models and simulations. "The endowed professorship for neuromorphic systems now makes it possible to significantly strengthen and anchor the field of neuromorphic computing in research and teaching at the University of Bern," says Leumann.
Existing cooperation strengthened
The new endowed professorship for Neuromorphic Systems is being established with the support of the UniBE Foundation as an assistant professorship with tenure track and is initially intended to run for 12 years. It will be co-financed over this period by the Manfred Stärk Foundation with a total of 3.6 million Swiss francs and is based at the Institute of Physiology. "I am extremely pleased that the establishment of the endowed professorship fulfils a long-cherished wish of the soon-to-be 89-year-old founder Manfred Stärk," says Claudia Lehnherr, Managing Director of the UniBE Foundation. The German Manfred Stärk Foundation aims to promote basic neuroscientific research with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the complex functions of the human brain. It has been supporting Bernese research in the field of theoretical neuroscience for ten years.
"It is very important to us to continue the successful and interdisciplinary research in theoretical neuroscience at the University of Bern, particularly in the Human Brain Project," says founder Manfred Stärk. The endowed professorship will focus on various areas of research: analytical methods and dynamic systems, modelling neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity, biologically inspired methods for machine learning, as well as theory, models and applications for fast and energy-efficient neuromorphic systems.
Strengthening the link between medicine and the natural sciences
The endowed professorship is not only intended to promote collaboration within the Faculty of Medicine, but also between the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science. "Within the Faculty of Medicine, we are strengthening the connection between theoretical neuroscience and the research platform NeuroTecthe University Department of Neurology at Inselspital and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine CAIM" explains Claudio Bassetti, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern. "Together with the Faculty of Science, we want to promote collaboration between medicine, physics and computer science," Bassetti continues.
The endowed professorship will be advertised nationally and internationally. The appointment is planned for spring 2025.
Presentation of biologically inspired neuromorphic hardware and neuronal algorithms at the Night of Research at the University of Bern 2022. Left on table: Chip system with thousands of artificial neurons, as well as two demonstration neurons (purple) connected to oscilloscope. Institute of Physiology, University of Bern
Explanation of tilt images at the Night of Research (here: rabbit-duck), which are reproduced by the networks. The ideas and technologies presented were developed as part of the European Human Brain Project, in which researchers from Bern played a key role. Institute of Physiology, University of Bern