# Massimiliano Versace

Massimiliano Versace (born December 21, 1972, in Monfalcone, Italy) is the co-founder and the CEO of Neurala Inc, a Boston-based company building Artificial Intelligence emulating brain function in software and used in automating the process of visual inspection in manufacturing. He is also the founding Director of the Boston University Neuromorphics Lab. Massimiliano Versace is a Fulbright scholar and holds two PhDs in Experimental Psychology from the University of Trieste, Italy and Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University, USA. He obtained his BSc from the University of Trieste, Italy.

## Professional life

Versace grew up in Monfalcone, Italy and came to the United States in 2001 as a Fulbright scholar. He holds a masters in psychology from the University of Trieste and two PhDs (Experimental Psychology, University of Trieste, Italy—Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University, USA). As Artificial Intelligence Professor at Boston University, he founded the Neuromorphics Lab, and in 2009-2011 the lab led a main research thrust in the DARPA SyNAPSE in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard designing artificial nervous systems, based on deep learning, implemented on novel memristor-based devices. In December 2010, Versace published a cover-featured articled on the IEEE Spectrum describing the roadmap to develop a large scale brain model making use of memristor based technologies.
The model designed by Versace and his colleagues, termed Modular Neural Exploring Traveling Agent (MoNETA) was the first large-scale neural network model to implement whole-brain circuits to power a virtual and robotic agent compatibly with memristor-based hardware computations. A cover page article in IEEE Computer features the software platform and modeling implemented by the joint HP and Boston University teams, and the March 2012 edition of IEEE Pulse features his lab work on brain modeling. From 2011 to 2016, Versace and his team at Neurala worked with NASA and successfully built deep learning models able to learn power navigation and perception for exploring novel environments in real-time.
His work has also been featured in TIME Magazines, New York Times, Nasdaq, The Boston Globe, Xconomy, IEEE Spectrum, Fortune, CNBC, The Chicago Tribune, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Associated Press, Geek Magazine, and is a TEDx speaker.
In 2006, with two colleagues from Boston University, he co-founded Neurala Inc. to bring this technology to market in applications ranging from robots, to drones, and other smart devices.

## Awards

Versace is a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship in 2001. Career and company awards include:
* Gold prize at the Edison Award Best New Product in Social Innovation;
* CB Insights 100 Most Promising AI Companies;
* Draper Venture Network Most Innovative Company;
* Disruptor Daily 100 Most Disruptive Companies,
Versace is also recipient of the CELEST Award for Computational Modeling of Brain and Behavior in 2009, and was awarded top cited article 2008–2010 in Brain Research.

## Neural modeling, Deep Learning, and Robotics

Massimiliano Versace's pioneered research in continual learning neural networks, in particular applied to cortical models of learning and memory, and how to build intelligent machines equipped with low-power, high density neural chips that implement large-scale brain circuits of increasing complexity. His Synchronous Matching Adaptive Resonance Theory (SMART) model shows spiking laminar cortical circuits self-organize and stably learn relevant information, and how these circuits be embedded in low-power, memristor-based hybrid CMOS chip and used to solve challenging pattern recognition problems. His work has been featured on Fortune, Inc, Tech Crunch, IEEE Spectrum, Venture Beat, among others.