Award opportunities

IBM Worldwide University Relations supports basic research, curriculum innovation, and educational assistance in focus areas, which are fundamental to innovation in the 21st Century and strategic to IBM's core business. These focus areas include five game-changing technologies of particular interest:

• Services Science, Engineering, and Management
• Information-based medicine
• Event-driven computing
• Cell architecture
• Frontiers in supercomputing

We provide funding under two engagement models:

• Competitions. For competitions, we invite submission of proposals in response to solicited, published program announcements. Eligibility requirements and objectives for each competition are included in the invitation.
• Awards. IBM has several award programs to support the success of existing, active collaborations. Nominations for these awards are initiated by the IBM technical contact actively participating in the work.

We fund specific research or curriculum-development projects only pursuant to identified initiatives or programs. We do not provide general institutional support or funding for ongoing educational or philanthropic activities. All funding is awarded in response to solicited proposals. We solicit proposals both through private invitations and through published public requests. Currently we do not accept unsolicited proposals.

IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Awards
The IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Awards is an annual, competitive worldwide program that honors exceptional Ph.D. students in an array of focus areas of interest to IBM and fundamental to innovation. IBM Ph.D. Fellowships are awarded to full-time Ph.D. students nominated by their faculty advisor.

Learn more about Ph.D. Fellowship Awards

IBM Innovation Awards
The IBM Innovation Awards is an international award competition designed to encourage proposals focused on teaching, research, or community building around key technologies. Since 2003, IBM has sponsored programs to increase the use of open source and open standards-based tools for academic curricula and research.

Real-time Innovation Awards
UIMA Innovation Awards
Past Eclipse Innovation Awards

IBM Faculty Awards
The IBM Faculty Awards is a competitive worldwide program intended to foster collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research, development and services organizations, and to promote courseware and curriculum innovation to stimulate growth in disciplines and geographies that are strategic to IBM.

Learn more about Faculty Awards

IBM Shared University Research Awards
The IBM Shared University Research (SUR) Awards is a worldwide program that awards equipment to promote research in areas of mutual value and interest to IBM and universities. This program strives to connect the research and researchers at universities with personnel in IBM in organizations such as IBM Research, IBM Life Sciences, IBM Global Services and our development and product labs.

Learn more about Shared University Research Awards