Collaboration, Inspiration and Progressive RISC-V Based Innovation in India and Bangladesh is Increasing at a Steady Pace

Our SiFive Tech Symposiums and Workshops in India and Bangladesh were a huge success, and an inspirational endeavor as well. We hosted events in six cities total, including symposiums in Noida/Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and workshops in Chennai and Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka. Attendance was at capacity in all locations, and was over capacity in Pune and Bangalore.

Highlights From India

Our co-hosts in India – Western Digital, Microchip and IIT Madras – delivered powerful keynote presentations that underscored both the momentum surrounding the RISC-V ISA, and the cores and IP blocks that are accelerating the ecosystem and unleashing innovation at the edge and beyond.

One of the many highlights came from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) – one of our partners in Pune. They provided an update on their RISC-V based research and development program, and also expressed their eagerness to work with SiFive. We are equally eager!

Another highlight came from IIT Madras – our co-host in Chennai. We received an update on the RISC-V Shakti Project, which is the academically renowned open-source initiative at IIT Madras that is spearheading the building of processors based on the RISC-V ISA, as well as reference SoCs and other associated components. The technological accomplishments by the SHAKTI team are world class.

Representative from both C-DAC and IIT Madras extended an invitation to Krste Asanovic, co-founder and chief architect at SiFive and chairman of the RISC-V Foundation, as well as others from the SiFive team, to tour their labs and see their RISC-V based projects in action. The team thoroughly enjoyed and greatly appreciated seeing the labs and all of the progress being made. We thank both C-DAC and IIT Madras for hosting us.

The workshop in Chennai provided students and others with the unique opportunity to configure their own RISC-V core and bring up on an FPGA. Their excitement to learn, and to achieve the goal of their design in such a short amount of time was very evident. The participants felt encouraged to work more with the platform and to explore more possibilities.

Highlights From Bangladesh

Our co-hosts, Ulkasemi and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), were instrumental in making the workshop in Dhaka a world class event with the participation of industrial experts, professors, and the vibrant student community of Dhaka. One of the highlights was the presentation by a professor from BUET who elaborated on the University’s research activity, and showcased some of the recent work.

There was also a hands-on workshop where students, industrial experts, and senior professors actively participated to implement customizable RISC-V cores using SiFive’s IP Core Designer. By the end of the day, all the attendees were well-versed in the RISC-V revolution.

Special Thanks

We are very grateful to Western Digital, Microchip, IIT Madras Ulkasemi and BUET, as well as our many ecosystem partners who helped immensely in making these events so successful. With each of these events, we are always humbled and inspired by the collective power of the minds that share in our endeavor to create and participate in a truly open source environment that fosters an unobstructed path to innovation.

What’s Next?

The next SiFive Tech Symposium will take place in Middle East and Africa (MEA), followed shortly by symposiums in the Pacific Northwest, USA. For more information on these and other SiFive Tech Symposiums, please visit www.sifivetechsymposium.com