Tag Archives: Research Awards

Google Research Awards: Fall 2015

Posted by Maggie Johnson, Director of Education and University Relations

We have just completed another round of the Google Research Awards, our annual open call for proposals on computer science and related topics including machine learning, speech recognition, natural language processing, and computational neuroscience. Our grants cover tuition for a graduate student and provide both faculty and students the opportunity to work directly with Google researchers and engineers.

This round we received 950 proposals, an increase of 18% over last round, covering 55 countries and over 350 universities. After expert reviews and committee discussions, we decided to fund 151 projects. This round we increased our support of machine learning projects increased by 71% from last round. Physical interfaces and immersive experiences, a relatively new area for the Google Research Awards, saw a 19% increase in the number of submitted proposals.

Congratulations to the well-deserving recipients of this round’s awards. If you are interested in applying for the next round (deadline is October 15), please visit our website for more information. Please note that we are now moving to an annual cycle.

Announcing the Google Internet of Things (IoT) Technology Research Award Pilot

Posted Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, and Max Senges, Google Research

Over the past year, Google engineers have experimented and developed a set of building blocks for the Internet of Things - an ecosystem of connected devices, services and “things” that promises direct and efficient support of one’s daily life. While there has been significant progress in this field, there remain significant challenges in terms of (1) interoperability and a standardized modular systems architecture, (2) privacy, security and user safety, as well as (3) how users interact with, manage and control an ensemble of devices in this connected environment.

It is in this context that we are happy to invite university researchers1 to participate in the Internet of Things (IoT) Technology Research Award Pilot. This pilot provides selected researchers in-kind gifts of Google IoT related technologies (listed below), with the goal of fostering collaboration with the academic community on small-scale (~4-8 week) experiments, discovering what they can do with our software and devices.

We invite you to submit proposals in which Google IoT technologies are used to (1) explore interesting use cases and innovative user interfaces, (2) address technical challenges as well as interoperability between devices and applications, or (3) experiment with new approaches to privacy, safety and security. Proposed projects should make use of one or a combination of these Google technologies:
  • Google beacon platform - consisting of the open beacon format Eddystone and various client and cloud APIs, this platform allows developers to mark up the world to make your apps and devices work smarter by providing timely, contextual information.
  • Physical Web - based on the Eddystone URL beacon format, the Physical Web is an approach designed to allow any smart device to interact with real world objects - a vending machine, a poster, a toy, a bus stop, a rental car - and not have to download an app first.
  • Nearby Messages API - a publish-subscribe API that lets you pass small binary payloads between internet-connected Android and iOS devices as well as with beacons registered with Google's proximity beacon service.
  • Brillo & Weave - Brillo is an Android-based embedded OS that brings the simplicity and speed of mobile software development to IoT hardware to make it cost-effective to build a secure smart device, and to keep it updated over time. Weave is an open communications and interoperability platform for IoT devices that allows for easy connections to networks, smartphones (both Android and iOS), mobile apps, cloud services, and other smart devices.
  • OnHub router - a communication hub for the Internet of Things supporting Bluetooth® Smart Ready, 802.15.4 and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. It also allows you to quickly create a guest network and control the devices you want to share (see On.Here).
  • Google Cloud Platform IoT Solutions - tools to scale connections, gather and make sense of data, and provide the reliable customer experiences that IoT hardware devices require.
  • Chrome Boxes & Kiosk Apps - provides custom full screen apps for a purpose-built Chrome device, such as a guest registration desk, a library catalog station, or a point-of-sale system in a store.
  • Vanadium - an open-source framework designed to make it easier to develop, secure, multi-device user experiences, with or without an Internet connection.
Check out the Ubiquity Dev Summit playlist for more information on these platforms and their best practices.

Please submit your proposal here by February 29th in order to be considered for a award. Proposals will be reviewed by researchers and product teams within Google. In addition to looking for impact and interesting ideas, priority will be given to research that can make immediate use of the available technologies. Selected proposals will be notified by the end of March 2016. If selected, the award will be subject to Google’s terms, and your use of Google technologies will be subject to the applicable Google terms of service.

To connect our physical world to the Internet is a broad and long-term challenge, one we hope to address by working with researchers across many disciplines and work practices. We are looking forward to the collaborative opportunity provided by this pilot, and learning about innovative applications you create for these new technologies.


1 The same eligibility conditions as for the Faculty Research Award Program apply - see here.↩

Google Faculty Research Awards: Summer 2015

posted by Maggie Johnson, Director of Education and University Relations

We have just completed another round of the Google Faculty Research Awards, our annual open call for research proposals on Computer Science and related topics, including systems, machine learning, software engineering, security and mobile. Our grants cover tuition for a graduate student and provide both faculty and students the opportunity to work directly with Google researchers and engineers.

This round we received 805 proposals, about the same as last round, covering 48 countries on 6 continents. After expert reviews and committee discussions, we decided to fund 113 projects, with 27% of the funding awarded to universities outside the U.S. The subject areas that received the highest level of support were systems, machine perception, software engineering, and machine learning.

The Faculty Research Awards program plays a critical role in building and maintaining strong collaborations with top research faculty globally. These relationships allow us to keep a pulse on what’s happening in academia in strategic areas, and they help to extend our research capabilities and programs. Faculty also report, through our annual survey, that they and their students benefit from a direct connection to Google as a source of ideas and perspective.

Congratulations to the well-deserving recipients of this round’s awards. If you are interested in applying for the next round (deadline is October 15), please visit our website for more information.