diff --git a/src/caffelib.cc b/src/caffelib.cc
index aa1757945..774aa3a84 100644
--- a/src/caffelib.cc
+++ b/src/caffelib.cc
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ namespace dd
   {
     std::vector<int> layers = {50};
     std::string activation = "ReLU";
+    double elu_alpha = 1.0;
     double dropout = 0.5;
     if (ad.has("layers"))
       layers = ad.get("layers").get<std::vector<int>>();
@@ -170,6 +171,12 @@ namespace dd
 	  activation = "ReLU";
 	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"prelu"))
 	  activation = "PReLU";
+	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"elu"))
+	  {
+	    activation = "ELU";
+	    if (ad.has("elu_alpha"))
+	      elu_alpha = ad.get("elu_alpha").get<double>();
+	  }
 	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"sigmoid"))
 	  activation = "Sigmoid";
 	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"tanh"))
@@ -308,6 +315,8 @@ namespace dd
 	else lparam = net_param.add_layer();
 	lparam->set_name("act"+std::to_string(l));
 	lparam->set_type(activation);
+	if (activation == "ELU" && elu_alpha != 1.0)
+	  lparam->mutable_elu_param()->set_alpha(elu_alpha);
 	lparam->add_bottom(last_ip);
 	lparam->add_top(last_ip);
 	++rl;
@@ -325,6 +334,8 @@ namespace dd
 	else dlparam = deploy_net_param.add_layer();
 	dlparam->set_name("act"+std::to_string(l));
 	dlparam->set_type(activation);
+	if (activation == "ELU" && elu_alpha != 1.0)
+	  lparam->mutable_elu_param()->set_alpha(elu_alpha);
 	dlparam->add_bottom(last_ip);
 	dlparam->add_top(last_ip);
 	++drl;
@@ -478,6 +489,7 @@ namespace dd
     //- get relevant configuration elements
     std::vector<std::string> layers;
     std::string activation = "ReLU";
+    double elu_alpha = 1.0;
     double dropout = 0.5;
     if (ad.has("layers"))
       try
@@ -495,6 +507,12 @@ namespace dd
 	  activation = "ReLU";
 	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"prelu"))
 	  activation = "PReLU";
+	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"elu"))
+	  {
+	    activation = "ELU";
+	    if (ad.has("elu_alpha"))
+	      elu_alpha = ad.get("elu_alpha").get<double>();
+	  }
 	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"sigmoid"))
 	  activation = "Sigmoid";
 	else if (dd_utils::iequals(activation,"tanh"))
@@ -680,6 +698,8 @@ namespace dd
 	    else lparam = net_param.add_layer();
 	    lparam->set_name("act"+std::to_string(ccount));
 	    lparam->set_type(activation);
+	    if (activation == "ELU" && elu_alpha != 1.0)
+	      lparam->mutable_elu_param()->set_alpha(elu_alpha);
 	    lparam->add_bottom("conv"+std::to_string(ccount));
 	    lparam->add_top("conv"+std::to_string(ccount));
 	    ++rl;
@@ -697,6 +717,8 @@ namespace dd
 	    else dlparam = deploy_net_param.add_layer();
 	    dlparam->set_name("act"+std::to_string(ccount));
 	    dlparam->set_type(activation);
+	    if (activation == "ELU" && elu_alpha != 1.0)
+	      lparam->mutable_elu_param()->set_alpha(elu_alpha);
 	    dlparam->add_bottom("conv"+std::to_string(ccount));
 	    dlparam->add_top("conv"+std::to_string(ccount));
 	    ++drl;
@@ -817,6 +839,8 @@ namespace dd
 	else lparam = net_param.add_layer();
 	lparam->set_name("act"+std::to_string(cact));
 	lparam->set_type(activation);
+	if (activation == "ELU" && elu_alpha != 1.0)
+	  lparam->mutable_elu_param()->set_alpha(elu_alpha);
 	lparam->add_bottom(last_ip);
 	lparam->add_top(last_ip);
 	++rl;
@@ -833,6 +857,8 @@ namespace dd
 	else dlparam = deploy_net_param.add_layer();
 	dlparam->set_name("act"+std::to_string(cact));
 	dlparam->set_type(activation);
+	if (activation == "ELU" && elu_alpha != 1.0)
+	  lparam->mutable_elu_param()->set_alpha(elu_alpha);
 	dlparam->add_bottom(last_ip);
 	dlparam->add_top(last_ip);
 	++drl;