OpenHW Accelerate will drive research in next generation of class-leading open-source processors, architectures and support software for embedded AI and machine learning (ML) applications, among other future energy-intensive computing requirements.
OpenHW Group, the global not-for-profit organisation set up to facilitate collaboration in the design and development of open-source cores, related IP and software tools, has teamed up with Mitacs, a not-for-profit organisation supporting research within Canadian and International academic institutions to create the innovative OpenHW Accelerate program.
Commenting on the announcement Rick O’Connor, Founder and CEO at OpenHW Group, said, “OpenHW Group is transforming how the industry adopts open-source hardware and is bringing relevant research projects to leading industry and academic institutions worldwide. With strong support from Mitacs, the OpenHW Accelerate co-funded research project is available to all members and technology partners across the OpenHW ecosystem worldwide.”
The first OpenHW Accelerate project, CORE-V VEC, is a research effort to explore architectural optimisations for RISC-V vector processor implementations used in high-throughput multidimensional sensor data processing and ML acceleration at the Edge.
According to Dr. John Hepburn, Mitacs CEO and Scientific Director: “The OpenHW Accelerate program, supported by the Government of Canada represents a major step forward in open-source hardware research. This collaboration marks the onset of first-of-its kind, openly-available hardware research to those around the globe; this accessibility reduces barriers for start-ups and small businesses to advance.”
The OpenHW Group and Mitacs plan to announce several new OpenHW Accelerate projects pairing industrial sponsors with academic institutions in the coming months.
