Constructive community race: full-density spiking neural network model drives neuromorphic computing
Abstract The local circuitry of the mammalian brain is a focus of the search for generic computational principles because it is largely conserved across species and modalities. In 2014 a model was proposed representing all neurons and synapses of the stereotypical cortical microcircuit below <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mstyle scriptlevel="0"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>mm</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> of brain surface. The model reproduces fundamental features of brain activity but its impact remained limited because of its computational demands. For theory and simulation, however, the model was a breakthrough because it is full-scale, therefore free of uncertainties of downscaling, and larger models are less densely connected. This sparked a race in the neuromorphic computing community and the model became a de facto standard benchmark. Within a few years real-time performance was reached and surpassed at significantly reduced energy consumption. We review how the computational challenge was tackled by different simulation technologies and derive guidelines for the next generation of benchmarks and other domains of science.
Authors
- Luca Peres (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9748-9073)
- Johannes Schemmel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1440-4375)
- Tobias Gemmeke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1583-3411)
- Arne Heittmann
- Markus Diesmann
- E. Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7030-1755)
- Tim Stadtmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7452-8245)
- Gianmarco Tiddia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7524-0285)
- Johanna Senk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6304-062X)
- James C. Knight (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2952-5359)
- Sacha J. van Albada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0682-4855)
- Tom Tetzlaff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5794-5425)
- Andrew F. Rowley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9576-1897)
- Thomas Nowotny (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4451-915X)
- Bruno Golosio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5144-6932)
- Oliver Rhodes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1728-2828)
- Steve Furber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6524-3367)
- Anno C. Kurth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9557-1003)
- Gianmarc Coppola
- José Villamar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8791-7100)
- Tobias G. Noll
Institutions
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- University of Cagliari (IT)
- University of Cologne (DE)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Ernst Ruska Centre (DE)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Kirchhoff (Germany) (DE)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Cagliari (IT)
- Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (DE)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering
- Published
- 2026-02-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4386/ae379a
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Università degli Studi di Cagliari
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council