FinalSpark is a Swiss startup, which develops, as of 2024, biocomputers using living neurons.[1] It was founded by two scientists and entrepreneurs, Dr Fred Jordan[2] and Dr Martin Kutter.[3]

The company pioneered the field by creating remote access to its laboratory in Vevey, Switzerland, in which biocomputers are being developed.[4]

The FinalSpark Team consist of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs specialised in signal processing, physics, neuroscience and in vitro biology (Jean-Marc Comby,[5] Dr Ewelina Kurtys,[6] Dr Flora Brozzi, Daniel Burger, Prof Luc Stoppini[7] , Dr Steve M. Potter,[8] Bruce M. Davis).

FinalSpark is one of three private companies in the world working in the fields of biocomputing (aka biological computing)[9] wetware computing and organoid intelligence[10] Other competitors are Koniku (based in US) and Cortical labs (based in Australia).

History

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FinalSpark was founded in 2014 in Vevey, Switzerland.[11] As declared by the founders, the objective of the company is to build 'Thinking Machine'[12] ], and after several years of research on traditional computer hardware, in 2019 FinalSpark decided to attempt to build a computer using living neurons, as its core hardware[13][1].

As of 2024, FinalSpark is privately owned and funded by its Founders, who are using their funds from previous venture, AlpVision[14][15] which was founded in 2001.[16]

Technology

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The company claims to build computers from living neurons in vitro obtained from [[[induced pluripotent]] stem cells from the human skin, neurons are grown in neurospheres and are kept on the electrodes as described in company's technical publication.[17] The lab is used both on site and remotely, as a Python-scripted Neuroplatform[18][2]. One of the expected impact of organoid intelligence is to reduce energy consumption by computation with current digital systems by 6 orders of magnitude.[19][20][21][22]

References

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  1. ^ Travers, Scott. "Could Lab-Grown Mini-Brains From Stem Cells Power Tomorrow's AI?". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  2. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fred-Jordan
  3. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin-Kutter-2
  4. ^ Mark Tyson (2024-08-27). "Human brain organoid bioprocessors now available to rent for $500 per month". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  5. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean-Marc-Comby
  6. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ewelina-Kurtys
  7. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luc-Stoppini
  8. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Steve-M-Potter-Lab
  9. ^ Mark Tyson (2024-05-26). "World's first bioprocessor uses 16 human brain organoids for 'a million times less power' consumption than a digital chip". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  10. ^ Hansford, Rachael (2023-11-14). "Organoid intelligence". ACNR. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  11. ^ "Could computers someday function with real brains?". euronews. 2023-09-05. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  12. ^ Sanchez, Stéphane (2014-02-10). "Ils créent la machine qui pense". La Liberté (in French). Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  13. ^ Oršulić, Nikolina (2024-02-24). "Žive stanice umjesto umjetne inteligencije? Razgovarali smo sa švicarskim znanstvenikom koji već radi na tome". Forbes Hrvatska (in Croatian). Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  14. ^ "Authentication and Brand Protection Market Size & Share, Growth Trends 2036". www.researchnester.com. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  15. ^ "Spécialiste de la sécurité, AlpVision boucle son premier tour de financement et réunit un million d'euros - Le Temps" (in French). 2002-04-27. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  16. ^ Vakaridis, Mary (2023-05-21). "Fighting the fakes: Swiss expertise with a low profile". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  17. ^ Jordan, Fred D.; Kutter, Martin; Comby, Jean-Marc; Brozzi, Flora; Kurtys, Ewelina (2024-05-02). "Open and remotely accessible Neuroplatform for research in wetware computing". Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. 7. doi:10.3389/frai.2024.1376042. ISSN 2624-8212. PMC 11097343. PMID 38756757.
  18. ^ Kinard, Jordan. "These Living Computers Are Made from Human Neurons". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  19. ^ Smirnova, Lena; Caffo, Brian S.; Gracias, David H.; Huang, Qi; Morales Pantoja, Itzy E.; Tang, Bohao; Zack, Donald J.; Berlinicke, Cynthia A.; Boyd, J. Lomax; Harris, Timothy D.; Johnson, Erik C.; Kagan, Brett J.; Kahn, Jeffrey; Muotri, Alysson R.; Paulhamus, Barton L. (2023-02-28). "Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish". Frontiers in Science. 1. doi:10.3389/fsci.2023.1017235. ISSN 2813-6330.
  20. ^ "How computers built with human neurons could cut emissions". Quartz. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  21. ^ "Après l'intelligence artificielle, l'intelligence organoïde - Le Temps" (in French). 2023-10-02. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  22. ^ "Après l'intelligence artificielle, le pari fou de l'intelligence organoïde". Bilan (in French). 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2024-09-23.