In August 2020, Prof. Dr. Elisabetta Chicca moved to the University of Groningen and established the Bio-inspired Circuits and Systems group.

The Neuromorphic Behaving Systems research group was established in August 2011 at the Cluster of Excellence in Cognitive Interaction Technology CITEC (EXC 277) and Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Technology.

We aim to identify the principles of neural computation and implement them in fully parallel and low-power neuromorphic very-large-scale integration (VLSI) systems that offer the opportunity to overcome the limitations of traditional digital architectures. Hereby we develop silicon implementations of recurrent neural networks with learning synapses and biological inspired sensor systems, which allow us to validate current theories of learning and computation.

Two main streams can be identified in our research activities: (i) neuromorphic systems and theories for brain inspired computation (learning, cortical inspired neural architectures); (ii) neuromorphic sensing and actuating.

The neuromorphic systems and theories for brain inspired computation research stream focuses on investigating algorithms and hardware implementations of online learning as well as neural architectures. We carry out this research both by means of classical neuromorphic approaches (design of novel circuits and architectures) and through the development of technologies (integration of novel nano-electronic “memristive” devices).

Within the neuromorphic sensing and actuating research stream we develop neuromorphic electronic circuits to build compact autonomous sensory and sensory-motor systems specialized for interacting with the environment and solving specific real-world tasks. By tightly collaborating with neuroscientists at CITEC, we follow an interdisciplinary approach bridging the gap between basic research and applied neurotechnologies.