‘Sony Research Award Program’ utvides til Norge

Selskapet godtar nå søknader med fokus på ny og innovativ forskning på teknologi fra universiteter i USA, Canada og India, i tillegg til flere utvalgte europeiske land*, inkludert Norge.

Sony annonserte i dag at de tar imot søknader til Research Award-programmet sitt, som går inn i sitt sjette år. Programmet gir finansiering til grupper og forskningsprogrammer som forsker på ny og innovativ teknologi i samarbeid med Sonys egne forskningsgrupper. Research Award-programmet er åpner i år opp for søkere ved universiteter i 17 europeiske land, hvorav åtte av disse er nye*, og for universiteter i USA, Canada og India.

“Since its inception in 2016, the Sony Research Awards have provided a tremendous opportunity both for researchers and for Sony itself,” said Toru Katsumoto, Executive Deputy President and Chief Technology Officer, Sony Group Corporation. “This year’s addition of India provides access to a sizable pool of amazing talent, and we are looking forward to the new relationships we can create in the coming year.”

The Sony Research Award Program is comprised of two awards – the Faculty Innovation Award and the Focused Research Award. Both awards are coordinated by Sony’s R&D Center and may fall within three broad subject categories: Information Technology, Devices & Materials, and Life Sciences. The awards create new opportunities for faculty members to engage in cutting-edge research, leading to the introduction of breakthrough technologies.

The Faculty Innovation Award grants up to $100,000 USD to principal investigators for one year, with the possibility of an extension, for research projects that fall more broadly within Sony’s current research interests. This award will help Sony catalyse and expand the creation of new concepts by building on existing research through university partnerships.

The Focused Research Award provides support for up to $150,000 USD for one year, with the possibility of an extension, to conduct research more focused in the areas of Sony’s immediate interest. Through close collaboration with Sony’s own in-house research team, academic faculties can explore new and evolving research.

“Sony Research Award Program and the collaboration with the Sony team have been incredibly rewarding for us,” said Professor Mohit Gupta of the University of Wisconsin – Madison. “It has provided us with a rare opportunity to work together with industrial R&D. Throughout the project, the thoughtful discussions and advice from the Sony team has had a tremendous positive impact on our research; in particular the encouragement and the support for our endeavour to take our research "outside-the-lab" in the real world has been invaluable.”

“It was a fantastic experience collaborating with Sony for the past three years through the Sony Research Award Program”, said Professor Song Han of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The leading AI research at Sony provides us with real-world problems to solve. Given that Sony powers many AI-capable edge devices, it is a great channel to expand the impact of our research to benefit human society. "

Proposals may be submitted by university principal investigators who may be assistant, associate, or full professors. Objectives, publication terms, and IP terms will be mutually agreed upon between the awarded institution and Sony. The deadline to submit applications is September 15, 2021 and award nominees will be notified around March 2022.

For more information about the grants, as well as a list of previous award recipients, please visit https://www.sony.com/research-award-program.

*European countries included in the Program (countries new for 2021 are bolded) are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom