Prof. Jaeger receives EUR 531.000 for research in ITN ‘POST-DIGITAL’ programme

Prof. Herbert Jaeger from the Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence receives EUR 531.000 for his research in the ITN ‘POST-DIGITAL’ research project. Prof. Jaeger is partner in a consortium, which, in total, receives EUR 4 million.

ICT research worldwide has started to investigate and invest in so-called ‘unconventional’, nature-inspired approaches to computing. A major goal is to exploit the speed and energy advantages that computing with biology-inspired neural networks can potentially offer, compared to traditional digital computing. In the ‘POST-DIGITAL’ research network, researchers put a special emphasis on analog processing of optical signals in neural network architectures because of the speed and bandwidth provided by photonics. While much of the research in POST-DIGITAL is concerned with developing new microchip design and fabrication technologies, Prof. Jaeger's team at the FSE is the ‘mathematical theory’ group and will focus on mathematical modeling and algorithm development for these new photonic, neuromorphic hardware systems.

The POST-DIGITAL consortium joins 17 academic research groups, SMEs as well as IBM and Thales. This 'Initial Training Network' is coordinated from Aston University, UK. The grant has been awarded in January 2020 and the ITN started its operations on April 1, 2020. Altogether the project gives funding for 15 PhD positions, two of which will be located at the UG.