Proposal details:

Submissions-to-date are reviewed at the beginning of each quarter (the first business day of: January, April, July, October). All proposals received by the deadline that include an internal Cisco engineering sponsor will be sent for review.

Proposals without internal Cisco engineering sponsors MAY be delayed until one is identified.

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 distinct mechanisms to make research awards:

Unrestricted Gifts. When Cisco makes an unrestricted gift to an institution to support a research project, the intellectual property developed during the project (the "New IP") is owned by the institution; Cisco makes no claims on it. However, Cisco anticipates that the results of the research will be disclosed by the institution to the networking research community by scholarly publications or by presentations at conferences and other research meetings. Cisco does not pay overhead ("indirect costs") or other surcharges on unrestricted gifts.

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 consists of Cisco hardware or software products donated in support of a research project

Full Description:

Cisco encourages research across a broad range of areas, and invites research proposals on topics of your choice. Some example areas include, but are not limited to:

• Hardware: VLSI chips, optics, processors, high-speed interfaces, wireless networking, boards/chassis, switches, routers, low-power devices and systems;
• Software: Embedded systems, operating systems, special-purpose databases, special-purpose compilers, routing, traffic management, network management software, security systems, protocol software, network applications;
• Other: New network applications and new ways to use networks, performance prediction, effect of new traffic types and scale, mechanisms for social interaction.

The "Proposal Submission" section provides a link for submission of your proposal.

The proposal should include a one-page (or less) Summary or Abstract of the project, as well as a full description of the proposed research. Other information required includes the names of additional faculty and student investigators, a budget, Cisco hardware requirements, a brief summary of anticipated research collaboration with Cisco, and administrative information.

The full project description should outline the specific problem and goals of the research, and ideally be limited to two pages. The proposal description may be entered as either a pdf file or as text in the appropriate section of the application.

Once submitted, your application should be as complete as possible, so you may wish to familiarize yourself with the online application before beginning.

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Constraints and other information:

An award is normally made as an unrestricted gift to your institution, and intellectual property developed in your project remains with the institution to which the award was made; Cisco makes no claims on it.

Cisco intends to use the information and material you submit to conduct an internal review and evaluation of the research you propose. However, your submission neither creates nor implies any obligations on the part of Cisco or its affiliates or partners, and Cisco's decisions regarding any proposal are the sole discretion of Cisco reviewers and are not subject to appeal or review.

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Who May Apply

The Applicant and Principal Investigator listed on a proposal must each be a full-time faculty or research staff member at a university or other research institution. Students, adjunct faculty, or part-time faculty/staff may participate in the research and be listed on the proposal but may not be a Principal Investigator. To be eligible to receive an award, an institution subject to U.S. tax law must qualify as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Non-U.S. institutions must provide proof of non-profit equivalency.

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Submit your unsolicited research proposal

Questions? Please contact: research@cisco.com

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