Contracts for Innovation: DSbD Advancing CHERI Tools and software

Overview

Funded by the Department forScience, Innovation and Technology, this Contracts for Innovation competition supports the development of CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) tools and software for RISC-V embedded systems.

The goal is to mature and expand the availability of CHERI-enabled solutions, helping to strengthen theUK’s position in secure hardware innovation.

Competition structure:

• Single-phase, two-stage process
• Progression to stage 2 depends on successful delivery of stage 1 milestones and available funding

This is a focused opportunity to drive forward foundational tools for a more secure digital future.

Scope‍

The aim of the competition is to fund activities in maturing and enabling the availability of CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) tools and software components for RISC-V embedded devices that implement the CHERI architecture extensions.

The competition is supporting economic growth and societal resilience through accelerating the adoption and diffusion of the secure by design CHERI technology. The focus is on maturing and increasing the availability of the required tooling and software components for CHERI-enabled devices.

Projects are required to mature and make available tools and software components for use withCHERI-enabled devices. This could include porting and optimisation activities on:

• the Linux kernel and associated frameworks such as memory management, file system, network and inter-process communication
• application services frameworks and software components libraries used in embedded systems, such as various protocols and communications, storage and databases, identity and cryptography
• Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and runtimes used within embedded systems such as FreeRTOS, Zephyr OS, Java, Docker, WebAssembly
• tools used by developers of software such as compilers, debuggers, profilers and core libraries

The Centre for CHERI Tools and Software

For the successful commercial adoption of CHERI enabled products and services it is necessary to have matured tools, software components and associated dependencies available in a consistent and accessible form.

A Centre for CHERI Tools andSoftware (referred to as 'the Centre' from here on) is separately being created to be a collaborative engineering organisation that will consolidate and make available CHERI-based software and tools for RISC-V embedded devices.

Your project must involve the development, maturation and subsequent availability of CHERI Tools and Software components specifically for CHERI-enabled, RISC-V embedded devices. Your project should contribute towards building the Centre’s accessible, open-source ecosystem in order to build consistent and supportable CHERI-enabled software stacks, with a focus on embedded markets. Projects should justify applicability to usage in Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

Projects must identify either a single or associated grouping of tools or software components that will be developed and matured through defined activities that will result in defined milestones and associated deliverables to a state suitable for distribution through the Centre’s infrastructures.

Projects working on open-source software component or tool outcomes should deliver using OpenSource Security Foundation (OSSF) best practices to align with the Centre’s dissemination activities

For projects delivering commercial outcomes, submissions must describe a credible and practical route to market to commercialise those outcomes.

Project duration

Between 6 and 31 months

Must start by 1^st September 2025

End by 31^st March2028

Award value

Projects must have:

• have total costs between £200,000 and £1 million, inclusive of VAT, for stage 1
• have total costs up to £2 million, inclusive of VAT, for stage 2

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be led by an organisation of any size
• Contracts will be awarded to a single entity only
• Subcontractors can be used for specialist skills and can be businesses, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector(charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)
• Applicant organisations must have the knowledge and experience working with CHERI to undertake the proposed project and the available platforms or environments to support the proposed project
• You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs
• If you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £3 million
• If you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and your total project costs must not exceed £3 million

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service