€2.5 million EIC grant for deep tech project SIRENA from the University of Twente

Grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC)

The projects are part of the 2025 call for proposals for the EIC Transition programme. The EIC offers support to companies, from fundamental research to start-ups and scale-ups. The programme is part of Horizon Europe, the European Commission’s (EC) umbrella programme that aims to increase Europe’s competitiveness by stimulating science and innovation.

SIRENA

The aim of SIRENA (projectleider Wilfred van der Wiel) is to make a Twente invention, the reconfigurable nonlinear-processing unit or RNPU, suitable for large-scale production in the semiconductor industry. By using scalable manufacturing technology, the RNPU can become an important building block for energy-efficient chip technology, particularly in applications for artificial intelligence (AI). These chips consume 100 times less energy and 100 times less surface area than current chips, making them cheaper and better for the environment.

Impact

This project lays the foundation for the CMOS-compatible production of RNPUs. The semiconductor start-up CirQuiX will bring this technology to market.