Supporting Pioneering Research and Teaching Courses

The Wind River® University Program allows faculty and students at colleges and universities to use state-of-the-art operating systems, platforms, middleware, and development tools to enrich their research efforts and teaching courses to foster advances in embedded technologies and intelligent edge systems.

How the Program Works

Donated licenses are for nonprofit educational use by full-time students and professors and may be used for the following:

  • Courses that teach embedded systems and IoT concepts
  • Graduate and undergraduate projects for engineering and non-engineering courses
  • Academic research activities with publicly available results
  • Graduate student theses

Guest Speakers

In addition to donating products, Wind River offers to provide an expert to lead an instructional class about the technology related to your project.

Applying to the University Program

To apply for Wind River product donations to your academic program, please complete an application with the appropriate documents and email to university@windriver.com.*

Export Compliance

For both teaching and research programs, any applicant from countries not exempt from export screening controls** must fill out an Enhanced Proliferation Control Initiative (EPCI) form. Please learn more about our export compliance requirements.

* Applications must be signed by an authorized representative of the academic institution.

** Countries exempt from EPCI screening: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

The World’s Leading Colleges, Universities, and Academic Institutions Partner with Wind River

Frequently Asked Questions

Applicants for the University Program must submit a technology grant proposal and Addendum and sign a University Partner Agreement. Proposals can be submitted at any time. Wind River’s University Program is available to a limited number of participants, and not all applications will be approved. A faculty member of an accredited university must submit and sign application forms. Instructions and application forms can be found at http://www.windriver.com/universities/.
Many of Wind River’s popular and widely-used products are available through the University Program.
Wind River General Purpose Platform, VxWorks® Edition 3.x, Wind River Linux 3.x, VxWorks Developers Toolkit, and Wind River Simics® for Academia are available using the forms found on this website.
Software is available in object/binary format only; source code is not provided.
Included with the software grant is 90 days of free online support. For further support, please contact us at:
  • Sales Inquiries
    Toll-free: 800-545-WIND (800-545-9463)
    Send us a request for more information.
  • Sales Inquiries EMEA
    Toll-free: 800-4988-4988
Please let us know if you are interested in other products. Requests for source code products will be handled on an individual basis.
Yes, product upgrades will be provided as they become available for no charge.
Universities in the Americas, Europe, and Japan will receive floating licenses. Universities in Asia will receive node-locked licenses.
There is no requirement for universities to purchase maintenance as part of the software donation.
Universities choosing to purchase maintenance will pay a flat fee per authorized contact (the technical contact listed on the Addendum to the grant proposal) rather than for the actual number of users for the project. This special quoting for universities can amount to a significant cost savings if the university has requested multiple seats of our product. Please contact us for further information at:
  • Sales Inquiries
    Toll-free: 800-545-WIND (800-545-9463)
    Send us a request for more information.
  • Sales Inquiries EMEA
    Toll-free: 800-4988-4988
Software donations may be used for four years. After that period, a new application package must be submitted to continue using Wind River software.
Software installation assistance and access to Wind River Online Support is provided at no charge during the first 90 days, beginning on the date of the agreement. Continued email and online support are available at a reduced fee per authorized contact per year.
Ongoing technical support (requires purchase of maintenance), onsite training, Wind River Professional Services (consulting), and Wind River hardware products need to be purchased separately.
Wind River may publicize a university’s participation and the results.