MMP and MECA Juries & Evaluation

MMP Evaluation Process

The evaluation process is confidential and completely independent of the prize sponsors and its directors. The jury independently scores the submitted projects and selects the winner on the basis of a list of criteria, including the following:

  • Novelty of the method or the achieved results

  • Potential impact on the field of neuromorphic engineering research

  • Potential commercial and/or real-world end-user impact

  • Technical prowess: is it a real-time system working in the real world under real-world constraints?

  • Demonstration of potential for quantum leaps in power efficiency, dynamic range, and/or speed due to use of neuromorphic design principles

  • Clarity of explanation and presentation of results

The Jury’s selection process is by consensus rather than majority vote. If a consensus is not reached, then no award is made. The decisions of the jury are final. The jury reserves the right to withhold the prize in any given year, depending on the quality of the applications received.

If a jury member is associated with a submitted project, that jury member will be excluded from the evaluation of that project.

Only the winner is announced. Candidates who are not awarded a prize are eligible and encouraged to resubmit revised work in subsequent years.

The winner will be announced at the annual CapoCaccia Workshop on Neuromorphic Engineering and Telluride Workshop on Neuromorphic Engineering.

Authors of winning submissions automatically grant the Organizers the right to use any part of the submitted material for any non-commercial purpose. By nominating for the prize, abstract authors warrant that they hold all necessary copyrights to grant this permission. Abstract authors retain copyright ownership of their documents.

MMP Juries

2022 Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester

  • Prof. Dan Hammerstrom, Portland State University

  • Prof. Mitra Hartman, Northwestern University

  • Prof. Shih Chii Liu, University of Zurich

  • Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Almaden Research Center

  • Dr. Eric Ryu, Seoul National University

  • Prof. Hava Siegelmann, University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Prof. Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute (jury chairperson)

2021 Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester

  • Prof. Dr. Dan Hammerstrom, Portland State University

  • Prof. Dr. Shih Chii Liu, University of Zurich

  • Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Almaden Research Center

  • Prof. Dr. Eric Ryu, Seoul National University

  • Prof. Dr. Hava Siegelmann, University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Prof. Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute (jury chairperson)

2020 Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester

  • Prof. Dan Hammerstrom, Portland State University

  • Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Almaden Research Center

  • Dr. Eric Ryu, Master, Samsung Electronics

  • Prof. Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute (jury chairperson)

2019 Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester

  • Dr. Dan Hammerstrom, DARPA

  • Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Almaden Research Center

  • Dr. Eric Ryu, Master, Samsung Electronics

  • Prof. Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute (jury chairperson)

2018 Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Sue Denham, University of Plymouth

  • Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester

  • Dr. Dan Hammerstrom, DARPA

  • Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Almaden Research Center

  • Dr. Eric Ryu, Master, Samsung Electronics

  • Prof. Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute (jury chairperson)

2017 & 2016 Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester

  • Dr. Dan Hammerstrom, DARPA

  • Prof. Dr. Christof Koch, CSO, Allen Institute for Brain Science

  • Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Almaden Research Center

  • Dr. Eric Ryu, Master, Samsung Electronics

  • Prof. Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, Salk Institute (jury chairperson)

MECA Evaluation Process

The MECA submissions will be evaluated by a two-person jury of prominent mid-career scientists, together with a consensus-building chair, using the same criteria as the MMP.

MECA Juries

2021 & 2022

  • Prof. Mounya Elhilali (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Prof. Emre Neftci (Forschungszentrum Jülich)

  • Prof. André van Schaik (chair) (Western Sydney University)