Artificial Intelligence – and generative AI in particular – represents a unique opportunity to accelerate support of RISC-V across the open source software ecosystem. AI enables the rewriting of build scripts, adapting tests to run on RISC-V, adapting code to RISC-V’s memory model, generating RISC-V vector code, writing inline assembly and using RISC-V intrinsics. It also creates an opportunity to automate the generation of critical RISC-V infrastructure such as simulators, compilers, architectural tests and formal models, and keeping them up to date as new RISC-V extensions are ratified. Finally, AI presents an opportunity to accelerate the quality of RISC-V ports of software, optimizing it for performance, security and reliability once an initial port is already functional on RISC-V.
Focus Areas
We believe that the following areas of investigation would benefit from additional scientific support (we broadly welcome submissions on the intersection of AI and accelerating the RISC-V software ecosystem):
- Research innovations that speed up software porting to RISC-V using AI. This can include new algorithms, fine-tuned models, prompting techniques or agentic approaches that apply AI to various aspects of porting software to RISC-V. Ideally, such proposals should describe a path to producing changes in upstream software. Porting is broadly construed and does not have to be limited to the initial bring-up of software on RISC-V, but may extend to improvements at later stages of the porting process, such as performance tuning on RISC-V.
- Tooling and infrastructure that facilitates software porting to a RISC-V using AI. This includes any generalizable tools or infrastructure that can be useful in the porting of software to RISC-V. For example, this may include test suite generators, fuzzers, formal verification infrastructure, simulators, or performance models. It may also include work that uses AI to analyze RISC-V ISA manuals
- Specific forward progress on porting software that is critical for server use cases of RISC-V. Proposals do not need to have specific research components if they result in significant forward progress in the RISC-V software ecosystem, particularly for server use cases.
Award Information
This call for proposals intends to support work in these and other categories through access to compute credits for Gemini. Compute credit grants could be up to $50k USD and are intended to support these goals. We strongly encourage recipients to work with the RISC-V Software Ecosystem Project (RISE) and RISC-V International throughout the project, to ensure that resulting research outputs are adopted by the RISC-V ecosystem and to learn about ongoing developments in the ecosystem which may help shape the research.
Funds will be disbursed as unrestricted gifts to the university and are not intended for overhead or indirect costs. Please note that the entire grant amount will be made available in the form of Google Cloud credits to be used with Google’s models. Credits are not intended to be used for other purposes and cannot be converted to cash grants.
Guidance on proposals
We request submitted research proposals to use the format below, outlining the research goals and resource estimates, and be no longer than three pages in length (including references).
We believe strongly in open access and in supporting projects whose output will be made available to the public and the RISC-V ecosystem. For this reason, we ask Principal Investigators to include a brief statement about what they intend to do with the output of their work. We strongly prefer projects that have a tangible impact on the open-source RISC-V software ecosystem. Proposals will be selected in close collaboration between the RISE and RISC-V International.
Both RISE and RISC-V International consist of working groups and authors are encouraged to reach out to these working groups to learn about opportunities within the scope of these working groups.
How to apply
The program is open to active researchers at degree-granting universities and academic research institutions who are advising students and conducting research. Apply by completing the application by October 2, 2025.
Proposal in PDF format must include these items and be no longer than 3 pages:
- Proposal title
- Principal Investigator (PI) full name, contact information
- Co-PIs’ full names, contact information
- Affiliation (university, school, college, and/or department)
- Research objectives and expected results with timeline
- Statement of prior work, including a list of relevant publications
- Benefit to the RISC-V software ecosystem and research community
- Budget: amount of cloud credits (pricing calculator) requested
- Disclosure policy: a short description of what you intend to do with the output of your project (e.g., publications, open-sourcing code, making data sets public, etc.)
- CVs for each Co-PI (these pages do not count in the 3 maximum pages)
We request all applications be submitted in English. We expect to send out decision notifications no later than October 21, 2025. Do not submit any confidential or proprietary information through this application as the details of your project proposal will be shared with internal experts for evaluation.
We look forward to receiving your proposal.
Submit Proposal by October 2 here.
FAQ
I am employed full-time at a university, but I am not a professor. Can I apply?
The program is open to active faculty members at degree-granting institutions who are advising students and conducting research and Principal Investigators employed at universities and academic research institutions.
What is the disclosure policy for the proposals?
Our goal is to support work where the output will be made available to the broader research community. To that end, we ask that you provide us with a few sentences sharing what you intend to do with the output of your project (e.g., publications, open-sourcing code, making data sets public, etc.).
Will feedback be provided on the proposal that we submit?
We completely understand the desire to receive feedback and do our best to meet this request. However, due to the high volume of applications received, you may not receive feedback on your proposal.
How are applications evaluated?
Proposals will be selected in close collaboration between the RISC-V Software Ecosystem Project and RISC-V International. Applications are evaluated on the strength of the research proposal, research impact, feasibility, responsible research and impact on the RISC-V software ecosystem. Research proposals are evaluated for innovative concepts that are relevant for priorities within RISE and RISC-V International’s working groups. Proposals should include the direction and any plans of where your work is going, in addition to a comprehensive description of the research you are pursuing. Incomplete proposals will not be considered.
Is it possible to receive an extension?
No, all applications must be submitted by October 2, 2025. Late submissions will not be reviewed.
How can I ask additional questions?
We will be providing limited email support via info@riseproject.dev. Due to the volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond to questions quickly.
Open advice to proposal writers
Here’s some guidance on how you strengthen your short proposal. A good research grant proposal should consider the following:
- A well articulated research problem statement
- Detailed description of the approach and methodology, including a description of the partnership/collaboration model with stakeholder group(s), such as RISE and RISC-V International working groups.
- Expected impact clearly articulated
