Transdisciplinary Development of Neuromorphic Computing Hardware for Artificial Intelligence Applications: Technological, Economic, Societal, and Environmental Dimensions of Transformation in the NeuroSys Cluster4Future

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises economic growth and solutions to global problems but also raises societal concerns. Training AI models has a big carbon footprint due to data processing in fossil-fuel-reliant data centers. If the data centers are outside the European legal space, data processing incurs privacy risks. Besides, reliance on AI aggravates Europe’s dependence on non-European chipmakers, whose supply chains can be disrupted. To address such concerns, NeuroSys develops energy-efficient neuromorphic hardware tailored to AI applications that protect privacy by processing data locally. NeuroSys aims to build a chip plant near Aachen in Germany to support Europe’s technological sovereignty. This depends on an innovation ecosystem where socio-technical transformations emerge in transdisciplinary collaboration. This chapter introduces NeuroSys as a testbed for studying how transformation research can contribute to the sustainability and trustworthiness of AI Made in Europe.