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.
The MECA submissions are evaluated by a two-person jury of prominent mid-career scientists, together with a consensus-building chair, using the same criteria as the MMP.
Prof. Dr. Steve Furber, University of Manchester
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Prof. Mounya Elhilali (Johns Hopkins University)
Prof. Emre Neftci (Forschungszentrum Jülich)
Prof. André van Schaik (chair) (Western Sydney University)