In preparing a proposal to Cisco:

DO NOT submit any confidential or proprietary information to Cisco unless you have executed the appropriate Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Cisco intends to use the information and material you provide in your proposal to conduct an internal review and evaluation; Cisco has no obligation with respect to that information and material.

Cisco uses three mechanisms to support research:

Unrestricted Gifts. Research awards are recommendations to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation for unrestricted gifts. It is anticipated that unrestricted gifts will incur no indirect (overhead) costs. Cisco anticipates that the results of the research will be disclosed by the institution to the research community by scholarly publications or by presentations at conferences and other research meetings.

Sponsored Research Agreements. A sponsored research agreement is a contract between Cisco and an institution that sets forth intellectual property ownership rights, license grants, and other related terms. The details of the contract are negotiated, and may include specific deliverables or confidentiality obligation terms if the contract involves access to Cisco's or the institution's proprietary or confidential materials.

Gifts-in-kind. A gift-in-kind generally consists of Cisco hardware or software products donated in support of a research project.