The Centre for AI & Big Data (CAID) at Namal University, Mianwali, has successfully concluded its Summer School on RISC-V Hardware-Software Co-Design, bringing together participants from academia and industry for practical learning across computer architecture, software development and artificial intelligence. The two-day programme was held on September 5 and 6, 2026, at Namal University and focused on the complete journey from RISC-V hardware architecture to software development and AI deployment. The programme covered RISC-V and vector architectures, accelerator integration, functional verification, GCC and LLVM toolchains, firmware development, Linux bring-up, MLIR-based compilation and generative AI inference.
The summer school provided participants with exposure to the hardware-software co-design process and technologies used in modern computing systems. Sessions explored RISC-V instruction set architecture, vector processing, accelerator-based computing, system-on-chip integration and the interaction between hardware components and software tools. Participants also received practical exposure to cross-compilation, vector programming, firmware development, accelerator communication, Linux configuration and AI compilation workflows. The programme included sessions on functional verification of RISC-V designs as well as the use of AI compilers and Llama.cpp for efficient inference of generative AI models on RISC-V silicon.
The programme featured international experts from Barcelona Supercomputing Center and 10xEngineers, alongside researchers, faculty members, students and industry participants. According to Namal University, participants represented 12 institutions and organizations, including NUST College of E&ME, FAST-NUCES Islamabad, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Pak-Austria Fachhochschule, UET Taxila, University of Layyah, University of Mianwali, COMSATS University Islamabad, University of Gujrat, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, University of Education Lahore and Government Sadiq Egerton College Bahawalpur. The participation reflects growing academic and industry interest in open computing architectures, AI hardware and next-generation computing systems.
CAID’s initiative contributes to building technical capacity in areas including RISC-V architecture, chip design, AI compilers, high-performance computing and hardware-software integration. The summer school follows other specialized programmes organized by CAID, including a two-day AI Engineering for Supercomputing summer school held on August 29 and 30, which brought together more than 60 participants from institutions across Pakistan. Through these programmes, Namal University is expanding opportunities for students, researchers and professionals to gain practical exposure to emerging computing technologies and contribute to Pakistan’s developing capabilities in AI and advanced hardware systems.
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