[December 04, 2008]

IBM, 5 Universities Partner to Build Computer that Simulates the Brain

(Wireless News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
IBM Research and five universities are collaborating on the creation of
computing systems that are expected to simulate and emulate the brain's
abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction and cognition
while rivaling its low power consumption and compact size.

The digital data explosion shows no signs of slowing down, according to
analyst firm IDC, the amount of digital data is growing at 60 percent
each year, giving businesses access to incredible new streams of
information. But without the ability to monitor, analyze and react to
this information in real-time, the majority of its value may be lost.
Until the data is captured and analyzed, decisions or actions may be
delayed. Cognitive computing offers the promise of systems that can
integrate and analyze vast amounts of data from many sources in the
blink of an eye, allowing businesses or individuals to make rapid
decisions in time to have an impact.

By seeking inspiration from the structure, dynamics, function, and
behavior of the brain, the IBM-led cognitive computing research team
aims to break the conventional programmable machine paradigm.
Ultimately, the team hopes to rival the brain's low power consumption
and small size by using nanoscale devices for synapses and neurons.
This technology stands to bring about entirely new computing
architectures and programming paradigms. The end goal: ubiquitously
deployed computers imbued with a new intelligence that can integrate
information from a variety of sensors and sources, deal with ambiguity,
respond in a context-dependent way, learn over time and carry out
pattern recognition to solve difficult problems based on perception,
action and cognition in complex, real-world environments.

IBM and its collaborators have been awarded $4.9 million in funding
from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the
first phase of DARPA's Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic
Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) initiative. IBM's proposal, "Cognitive
Computing via Synaptronics and Supercomputing (C2S2)," outlines
research over the next nine months in areas including synaptronics,
material science, neuromorphic circuitry, supercomputing simulations
and virtual environments.

Initial research will focus on demonstrating nanoscale, low power
synapse-like devices and on uncovering the functional microcircuits of

the brain. The long-term mission of C2S2 is to demonstrate low-power,
compact cognitive computers that approach mammalian-scale intelligence.

"Exploratory research is in the fabric of IBM's DNA," said Josephine
Cheng, IBM Fellow and vice president of IBM's Almaden Research Center
in San Jose. "We believe that our cognitive computing initiative will
help shape the future of computing in a significant way, bringing to
bear new technologies that we haven't even begun to imagine. The
initiative underscores IBM's capabilities in bold, exploratory research
and interest in powerful collaborations to understand the way the world
works."

IBM has assembled a multi-dimensional, integrated team of researchers
and collaborators led by Dr. Dharmendra Modha, manager of IBM's
cognitive computing initiative, to take on the challenge including
Stanford University (Professors Kwabena Boahen, H. Phillip Wong, Brian
Wandell), University of Wisconsin-Madison (Professor Gulio Tononi),
Cornell University (Professor Rajit Manohar), Columbia University
Medical Center (Professor Stefano Fusi) and University of
California-Merced (Professor Christopher Kello). IBM Researchers
include Dr. Stuart Parkin, Dr. Chung Lam, Dr. Bulent Kurdi, Dr. J.
Campbell Scott, Dr. Paul Maglio, Dr. Simone Raoux, Dr. Rajagopal
Ananthanarayanan, Dr. Raghav Singh, and Dr. Bipin Rajendran.

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Copyright ? 2008 Wireless News

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