Brighton AI – Under the Hood: Supercomputing, Neuromorphic AI and Quantum Explained
This Brighton AI meetup is for anyone who wants to understand what’s actually going on “under the hood” of the next wave of AI and hardware, without needing a PhD (or pretending you’ve already got one).
### What we’ll cover:
- Supercomputing for AI: What it actually is, why it’s the engine of the current AI boom, and when a business actually needs it.
- Neuromorphic AI: How “brain-inspired” hardware can slash the massive energy bills of modern AI.
- Quantum Sensing: Moving past the hype to see how quantum tech is already being trialled in rail, defence, and energy.
### Our speakers
Andy Forrester (HypeAccelerator Solutions Limited) Talk: Supercomputing for AI Andy is an innovation and data science transformation specialist. He supports large, complex organisations—across government, aerospace, and healthcare – to turn emerging tech into real-world delivery. He’ll explain the “heavy lifting” hardware that makes modern AI possible.
Professor Thomas Nowotny (University of Sussex / Sussex AI) Talk: Reducing AI energy consumption with neuromorphic hardware Thomas is a Professor of Informatics and co-director of the “Sussex AI” Centre of Excellence. He works in Computational Neuroscience and Biomimetic AI. He’ll show us how moving to “event-based” machine learning can help stop AI from consuming quite so much electricity.
Fedja Orucevic & Thomas Coussens (Spectomiq) Talk: Quantum — What is it and what are the commercial applications? A University of Sussex spin-out, Spectomiq is moving quantum tech from the lab to the ground. They’ll explain how their patented sensing arrays pick out signals from “noisy” environments in real-time. We’ll look at three big use cases:
- Rail: Pinpointing train locations without visual confirmation.
- Defence: Navigating in “GPS-denied” environments.
- Energy: Detecting defects in EV batteries without invasive testing.
### Format
- 18:00: Arrivals + drinks
- 18:15: Welcome (Brighton AI)
- 18:20: Three 15-minute lightning talks
- 19:15: Combined Audience Q&A
- 19:40: Informal chats + networking
- 20:00: Close
### 📍 How to find us
Venue: Sussex Innovation Centre, Science Park Square, Falmer, BN1 9SB. View on Google Maps