About this CFP
At the forefront of sustainable device technology advancement, we seek proposals that help optimize device life cycle energy consumption and product carbon footprint through innovative technical solutions. Of particular interest are projects that illustrate measurable impact reduction in device manufacturing phase through supply chain decarbonization innovations or use phase through energy efficient compute or AI-assisted optimization techniques. The proposed solutions should demonstrate clear potential for industry-wide adoption and include comprehensive validation methodologies for measuring and verifying associated carbon impact reductions.
Timeline
Submission period: October 1, 2025 — November 5, 2025 (11:59PM Pacific Time).
Decision letters will be sent out in February 2026
Award details
Selected Principal Investigators (PIs) may receive the following:
- Unrestricted funds, up to $100,000 USD
- AWS Promotional Credits, up to $40,000 USD
Awards are structured as one-time unrestricted gifts. The budget should include a list of expected costs specified in USD, and should not include administrative overhead costs. The final award amount will be determined by the awards panel.
Eligibility requirements
Please refer to the ARA program rules on the rules and eligibility page.
Proposal requirements
Proposals should be prepared according to the proposal template. In addition, to submit a proposal for this CFP, please also include the following information:
- Description of the proposed solution and its innovative aspects
- Explanation of how the project addresses the specified challenges
- Plan for the development and implementation of the methodology or dataset
- Potential impact on sustainability in the targeted sectors
- Inclusion of Category Rules across Environmental Product Declarations and Product Environmental Footprints where applicable
- List of open-source tools, datasets, or methodologies you plan to contribute to.
- List of AWS ML tools you will use.
Selection criteria
Proposals will be reviewed by a panel of experts in machine learning, LCA, and sustainability. Proposals will be evaluated on the following:
- Immediate and sizeable impact on carbon abatements (i.e., reducing greenhouse gases)
- Practicality and scalability of the solutions that can support measurement validations
- Feasibility and clarity of the proposed approach
- Potential for widespread adoption and implementation
- Feasibility to open source
Expectations from recipients
To the extent deemed reasonable, award recipients may acknowledge support from ARA (e.g., (“Research reported in this [publication/press release] was supported by an Amazon Research Award, [Cycle /Year].“). Award recipients will inform ARA of publications, presentations, code and data releases, blogs/social media posts, and other speaking engagements referencing the results of the supported research or the Award. Award recipients are expected to provide updates and feedback to ARA via surveys or reports on the status of their research. Award recipients will have an opportunity to work with ARA on an informational statement about the awarded project that may be used to generate visibility for their institutions and ARA.