Organoid Cytomorphic Intelligence Resulting from Convergent Understanding and Information Transfer (O-Circuit) Proposers Workshop

UPDATE:

Amendment 1 is the DRAFT Program Solicitation. The Biological Technologies Office (BTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hosting a Proposers Workshop in support of an anticipated Program Solicitation (PS) for the Organoid Cytomorphic Intelligence Resulting from Convergent Understanding and Information Transfer (O-Circuit) program. The Proposers Workshop will be held on Friday, April 10, 2026, at the Executive Conference Center in Arlington, VA (4075 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300).

A virtual attendance option will also be available. Advance registration is required. Registrants will have the opportunity to provide teaming profiles and give a lightning talk. There are a limited number of timeslots for lightning talks, so they must be scheduled upon registration on a first-come, first-served basis. Note, all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Time.

While semiconductor-based computation is readily deployed in well-resourced environments, it is challenged by sustained applications ‘at the edge’ due to inherent power inefficiencies. This is a particular limitation for the Department of War (DoW) when operating in austere environments, especially when using advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications with high energy demands for both training and inference.

New unconventional computing concepts, such as synthetic biological intelligence, have the potential to fundamentally address these limitations but do not yet possess the necessary training and inference capabilities for practical applications.

To meet these needs, the O-Circuit program will explore methods for improving the learning, inference, and computational memory of neural tissue systems to develop an integrated biological processing unit (BPU) that establishes a new paradigm for sense-compute-act for edge applications.