LAGUNA HILLS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 19, 2022 /BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN)(OTCQX:BRCHF)(ADR:BCHPY), the world's first commercial producer of neuromorphic AI IP, and Prophesee, the inventor of the world's most advanced neuromorphic vision systems, today announced a technology partnership that delivers next-generation platforms for OEMs looking to integrate event-based vision systems with high levels of AI performance coupled with ultra-low power technologies. Inspired by human vision, Prophesee's technology uses a patented sensor design and AI algorithms that mimic the eye and brain to reveal what was invisible until now using standard frame-based technology. BrainChip's first-to-market neuromorphic processor, Akida, mimics the human brain to analyze only essential sensor inputs at the point of acquisition, processing data with unparalleled efficiency, precision, and economy of energy. Keeping AI/ML local to the chip, independent of the cloud, also dramatically reduces latency. "We've successfully ported the data from Prophesee's neuromorphic-based camera sensor to process inference on Akida with impressive performance," said Anil Mankar, Co-Founder and CDO of BrainChip.

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch's China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. Despite the geopolitical headwinds for foreign tech firms to enter China, many companies, especially those that find a dependable partner, are still forging ahead. For this week's roundup, I'm including a conversation I had with Prophesee, a French vision technology startup, which recently got funding from Kai-Fu Lee and Xiaomi, along with the usual news digest. Like many companies working on futuristic, cutting-edge tech in Europe, Prophesee was a spinout from university research labs. Previously, I covered two such companies from Sweden: Imint, which improves smartphone video production through deep learning, and Dirac, an expert in sound optimization.

Prophesee, a Paris-based startup that has pioneered neuromorphic vision systems, presented this week at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco a new, stacked event-based vision sensor jointly developed with Sony Corp. Designed by Prophesee's event-driven technology, the new sensor was built on technologies engineered by Sony for advanced stacked CMOS image sensors. For event-driven systems, the new sensor offers the industry's smallest pixel size and the industry's highest high-dynamic range (HDR) performance, Prophesee claimed. The brain-inspired sensor would allow industrial machines, robots and autonomous vehicles to see and sense the environment better. The partnership could herald a new era in which AI -- both AI sensing and AI processing -- could take place very close to the sensor, if not yet on the sensor itself, where data is generated. Sony is the world's leading CMOS image sensor company.

Prophesee has released what it says is the first industrial event-based vision sensor in a commercially viable, industry standard package. Event-based vision technology takes a different imaging approach to traditional frame-based sensors. Each pixel in Prophesee's Metavision sensor only activates if it detects a change in the scene – an event – which means low power, latency and data processing requirements compared to traditional frame-based systems. The third-generation VGA sensor is aimed at developers of cameras for industrial automation and IoT systems such as robots, inspection equipment, monitoring, and surveillance devices. Prophesee has been working with camera maker Imago Technologies, which has integrated Prophesee's sensor inside its VisionCam smart camera. This Metavision sensor release opens up event-based imaging to many more camera makers and the wider industrial imaging market.

PARIS, February 21, 2018 – Prophesee SA (formerly Chronocam), inventor of world's most advanced neuromorphic vision systems, today announced it has closed the initial tranche of its Series B financing round, which will total $19 million. Led by a new strategic investor from the electronics industry, the round also included staged investments from Prophesee's existing investors: 360 Capital Partners, Supernova Invest, iBionext, Intel Capital, Renault Group, and Robert Bosch Venture Capital. The financing is further market validation of the company's patented approach to revolutionizing the next generation of machine vision applications, such as autonomous vehicles, robots, industrial automation and IoT devices. This new technology allows cameras and sensors for the first time to view and analyze extremely fast and fleeting events, as well as effectively operate in challenging conditions like extreme light contrasts. Prophesee-powered systems also operate at record levels of power efficiency, enabling sensor ubiquity and portability.

As France's youngest president at 40 years old, Emmanuel Macron is known for his strong handshake, boyish good looks, and his controversial method of selecting a mate. Recently, he set his sights on artificial intelligence, announcing a government program to invest $1.8 billion into AI over the next four years. The cornerstone of all this spending will be in the healthcare sector, where the aim is to make predictive and personalized care a reality using AI and big data. This prompted us to take a look at the ten most funded French AI startups according to Crunchbase. Founded in 2014, Shift Technology has raised $40 million to develop an AI-based insurance fraud detection service.