EIC Venture Building helps SpiNNode take neuromorphic computing to public stages while commercial questions remain

The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme, part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services, has been helping research teams turn lab results into startups. One beneficiary is SpiNNode, an EIC Transition project that spawned the spin-off SpiNNcloud Systems. With support from the programme SpiNNcloud exhibited at 4YFN/MWC in Barcelona in February 2024 and at VivaTech in Paris in May 2024. Maurice Chales de Beaulieu, responsible for business development and communications for SpiNNcloud and the SpiNNode project, described those activities as awareness and investor outreach opportunities.

What SpiNNode and SpiNNcloud Systems are claiming to build

SpiNNode positions itself as a developer of brain-inspired computing systems that run a mix of machine learning models including deep neural networks, spiking neural networks and rule-based symbolic modules. The technical stack centres on the SpiNNaker2 chip family and a modular hardware architecture intended for both edge devices and a large-scale cloud deployment. SpiNNcloud Systems traces its origins to the Human Brain Project and the original SpiNNaker effort at the University of Manchester that developed massively parallel, neuromorphic simulation hardware.

On scale the company says a cloud deployment is being set up in Dresden using SpiNNaker2 technology and claims it will become the largest brain-like supercomputer with about 5 million cores. SpiNNcloud marketing materials also advertise substantial energy efficiency gains relative to current GPUs for certain workloads. Those are important selling points given growing concerns about AI energy consumption. At the same time these statements should be treated as company claims until validated by independent benchmarks or peer reviewed results.

Exhibitions, pitching and the EIC's role

Through the EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme, SpiNNcloud exhibited at 4YFN/MWC in Barcelona in February 2024 and at VivaTech in Paris in May 2024. Maurice Chales de Beaulieu said the aim was to raise awareness among politicians, AI application developers, engineers, the startup ecosystem and the public. In Paris the team pitched at Europe's Deeptech Meetup organised by Bpifrance and used EIC connections to promote investor relations and brief Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, on the role of computer hardware in EU sovereignty.

Maurice framed participation as iterative steps toward commercialisation. For a technology positioned in a blue ocean market he argued that repeated public exposure is essential because potential customers and partners may not be familiar with neuromorphic approaches.

How the EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme supports projects

The EIC Tech to Market Programme provides targeted venture building services to researchers from EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition projects. The Venture Building strand guides teams from idea identification to the operational creation of startups. Typical services include thematic Tech Demo Days, feasibility and opportunities exploration with business experts, team creation services such as access to entrepreneurs in residence and talent brokerage, and ongoing venture support on IP, finance and HR.

The EIC site notes the programme was paused and is expected to resume activity in 2026. Calls for experts and entrepreneurs in residence were closed at the time of the June 2024 content and should reopen later. For teams already in the programme the EIC operated a helpdesk where beneficiaries could select EIC T2M Venture Building Programme for enquiries.

Assessment and wider context

Neuromorphic computing is an established research area with a small but growing commercial ecosystem. SpiNNode and SpiNNcloud are trying to bridge research prototypes to deployable products. That path requires work on several fronts beyond chip designs including software stacks, developer tools, model conversion and a clear set of use cases where the approach is materially better than conventional accelerators.

The commercial case for neuromorphic hardware will hinge on demonstrable customer wins. Target sectors like robotics, real time sensor processing and some industrial applications could benefit from low-latency, energy efficient inference at the edge. For large language models and mainstream GenAI workloads the incumbent GPU ecosystem has massive software momentum. Converting that momentum to neuromorphic advantage will require clear cost or performance differentiators supported by reference deployments.

What to watch and recommended next steps

Key indicators to follow include third party benchmark results across representative workloads, signing of pilot customers, progress on the Dresden cloud deployment and proof points for the asserted 5 million core system. Potential investors and partners will also look for a robust software toolchain, ecosystems partnerships and a clear path to manufacturing and scale. For the EIC, the venture building support model offers a useful pathway to translate research grants into investable companies but it cannot substitute for commercial validation from paying customers.

For teams interested in the EIC Tech to Market services the EIC Community pages provide details on the different tracks, and the EIC contact page has a helpdesk. At the time of publication the Tech to Market Programme was paused and expected to resume in 2026. Questions specifically about the Venture Building Programme could be directed to the EIC Community helpdesk selecting 'EIC T2M Venture Building Programme' as the subject.

This article integrates material provided by the EIC and SpiNNode representatives and adds independent contextual analysis. Company performance claims cited here remain company statements until independently validated.