The Red Hat Collaboratory at Boston University has launched its annual Request for Proposals (RFP). Proposal submissions are due October 2, 2023, and awards will be announced by December 12, 2023. Awarded projects will have a start date of January 1, 2024.

The funding program enables collaborative research between Red Hat engineers and Boston University faculty and students, focusing on the hybrid cloud space on platforms ranging from edge devices to cloud datacenters. A fundamental goal of the collaboration is to develop techniques and best practices to integrate the rigor of academic research with the power of open source innovation. This is the third RFP cycle under the expanded partnership between Boston University and Red Hat. The Collaboratory funded $2.2M in funding to 19 projects through the 2023 RFP and $2.3M to 16 projects through the 2022 RFP. 

RFP guidelines

Projects must be open source and should generally focus on problems of distributed, operating, security, or network systems whose solution shows promise for advancing their field and impacting industry.  Software developed during this research must be made available under an open source license, and all results will be publicly available. 

Proposers are encouraged to review research areas of focus and existing strategic projects, available through the RFP page, in advance of developing a proposal to ensure alignment with the Collaboratory’s research objectives. Details on projects awarded funding in the 2022 and 2023 calls and recent Red Hat Research Interest Group agendas are available on the Red Hat Research website. 

LEARN MORE
Researchers and engineers with questions or interest in the program should contact the Collaboratory team at prop-rhcollab-l@bu.edu as soon as possible.

The Collaboratory will fund projects at three levels: large (< $500K per year), small (< $175K), and speculative (< $100K). Large-scale projects are expected to be highly visible and engage a community of faculty, students, and Red Hat engineers. Small-scale projects will be more limited in scope and should include collaboration among a smaller group of faculty, students, and Red Hat engineers. Speculative projects may include fundamental systems research, work relevant to the Mass Open Cloud Alliance, and high-risk projects. Speculative projects do not need to have the committed involvement of a Red Hat engineer, but initiating university-industry collaboration through these projects remains a priority. 

Projects have a timeline of one to two years, depending on scale, and may be eligible for renewal annually after the award period ends. We have streamlined application requirements for renewal proposals this year. The Collaboratory aims to encourage multi-year projects while ensuring that they continue to progress.  

Teams of BU faculty and Red Hat technical experts will review applications, making selections based on feasibility, potential visibility, potential impact, novelty, contribution to diversity in Collaboratory research, and relevance to the Collaboratory and its infrastructure, all within the context of the proposed budget.