The Horizon Europe project 2DNEURALVISION kicked off on 9 – 10 October in Castelldefels, Barcelona. Funded with €5.5 Million from the European Commission, the initiative will seek to investigate the next generation of computer vision and, to develop enabling photonic and electronic integrated circuit components for a novel low-power consumption computer vision system that could be used under adverse weather and low light conditions, based on graphene and 2D materials.
The 2DNEURALVISION project will carry out leading-edge research in the field of 2D materials for wide-spectrum image sensing and vision systems. Its scientific achievements will aim to drive disruptive improvements in the automotive, AR/VR, service robotic and mobile device sectors, which expect to have a major impact on society.
The project consortium is made up of seven partners from four different European countries, coordinated by ICFO (ES), and with the participation of QURV Technologies (ES), BLACK - Black Semiconductor GMBH (DE), UHEI – Heidelberg University (DE), IMEC (BE), Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (DE), FI Group (PT).
Gerasimos Konstatantos, project coordinator at ICFO, commented: “I am very excited and proud to coordinate this multidisciplinary effort that aspires to achieve major breakthroughs in computer vision technology for machine imaging and automotive applications. 2DNEURALVISION will innovate image sensors with high performance, low cost and scalable manufacturing technologies as well as demonstrate optical neural networks with unprecedented power efficiency and computation capabilities. At the heart of this project lie 2D materials (Graphene and TMDCs - transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers) and quantum dots, two material platforms whose impact and importance have been recognized with two Nobel Prizes. I am looking forward to closely working with all partners that are leaders in their corresponding fields, to bring this technology closer to market for the benefit of society at large.”
The project aims to develop the enabling components for a low-power consumption, computer vision system that could be used for adverse weather and low light conditions. These components are a two-dimensional materials (2DM) enhanced wide-spectrum image sensor and optical neural network with enabling 2DM passive and active elements. Additionally, the use of 2DM will make devices smaller in size and with greater functionality compared to what can be achieved with silicon technologies today.
The project expects to provide significant advances towards the integration of 2D materials technology by developing European competence in semiconductor process technologies with the development of wafer scale BEOL (black end of line) processes for graphene and TMDCs (transition-metal dichalcogenide).
Consequently, it will have a wider impact on “Europe’s open strategic autonomy” by sustaining first-mover advantages in strategic areas including AI, data, robotics, quantum computing and graphene, and by investing early in emerging enabling technologies, reinforcing the European industry leadership across the digital supply chain and robust European industrial and technology presence in all key parts of a greener digital supply chain, from low-power components to advanced systems, future networks, new data technologies and platforms.