Sony Research Award Program 2022

Sponsor

Sony Group Corporation

For More Information

For complete program details, please visit the Sony Research Award Program web-page.

Description

Sony is committed to supporting university research and innovation in the U.S., Canada, India and select European countries, while also fostering partnerships with university faculty and researchers. The Sony Research Award Program provides funding for cutting-edge academic research and helps build a collaborative relationship between faculty and Sony researchers. With awards up to $150,000 USD per year for each accepted proposal, both the Faculty Innovation Award and Focused Research Award create new opportunities for university faculties to engage in pioneering research that could drive new technologies, industries and the future.

  • Faculty Innovation Award: Up to $100K USD in funds to conduct cutting-edge research in Sony's general areas of interest.
  • Focused Research Award: Up to $150K USD in funds to conduct research in the areas of Sony's immediate interest.

Eligibility

Sony will accept applications from Principal Investigators (PIs) who meet the eligibility criteria below.

  • PI's institution: PIs must belong to a university, educational institution, or governmental/non-profit research institute. (e.g. Sony will accept submissions from research institutes that are categorized as governmental and NPO/NGO in nature index tables).
  • PI's position: PIs must be a full-time professor (adjunct professors and adjunct researchers are not eligible) or researcher and be eligible to supervise Ph.D. students at the PI's institution. Full professors, associate professors, and assistant professors are eligible to apply. For the UK, this includes Senior Lecturers, Principal Lecturers, Lecturers, and Readers who are eligible to supervise Ph.D. students at their institutions.
  • Countries: The PI’s institution must be in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Co-PI(s)

Sony will accept applications that have a PI and one or more co-PIs for the same proposal as long as all co-PIs are from the same institution as the PI. However, only one award is made to the primary PI and the primary PI's university/institution if the proposal is selected. All co-PIs must meet the same eligibility criteria as that for a PI, and co-PIs will be required to sign program documents.

Maximum Project Value

Focused Research Award: up to $150K USD
Faculty Innovation Award: up to $100K USD

Indirect Costs

40%

Project Duration

Please submit proposals for a one year period only. No multi-year proposals will be accepted. 

Special Notes

Research Agreement

A sponsored research agreement is required that is mutually agreed upon by Sony, the PI, and their institution on all program terms including objectives, milestones, publication, use of research, and patent rights before any award is made or funding is available. This sponsored research agreement is negotiable at the award stage and must be between Sony, the PI, and the PI's university/institution only.

Confidentiality

Proposal authors or universities/institutions must ensure that no confidential or proprietary information is included in submitted proposals. Sony will treat all information submitted in proposals as non-confidential and non-proprietary.

Intellectual Property (IP) Rights

IP rights are negotiable at the award stage and will be specified in the sponsored research agreement. At a minimum, Sony requires the right to utilize the results of the research that it sponsors for noncommercial purposes, including potentially patentable subject matter. Sony will also require rights to any background IP that is required to utilize the research results sponsored. No submissions are allowed that use background IP to which the PI and his/her institution do not have the full authority to grant use rights to Sony.

COVID-19

Please note that research activities carried out in the context of COVID-19 need to adhere to the University of Guelph COVID-19 research principles, policies, guidelines and processes as they may be updated from time to time and communicated on the Office of Research web-page.

Deadlines

If College-level review is required, your College will communicate its earlier internal deadlines.

TypeDateNotes
Internal Deadline

Applicant to submit signed OR-5 and application to the Office of Research (research.services@uoguelph.ca). 
External Deadline

Submissions to Sony must be completed by 11:59 pm PDT on September 15, 2022 (2:59 am EST on September 16, 2022).

How to Apply

For complete program details and how to apply, please visit the Sony Research Award Program web-page.

For Questions, please contact
Please contact Sony via the Inquiry Form if you have a question regarding the 2022 Sony Research Award Program. 
 

Office of Research

Kristin Zimmermann, Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist
Research Services Office
519-824-4120 x56257
kristin5@uoguelph.ca

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