HP Announces Recipients of Second Annual Innovation Research Awards

HP today announced it has selected professors from around the world to receive awards as part of its second annual HP Labs Innovation Research Program.

Sixty projects from 46 universities in 12 countries will receive awards from HP Labs, the company’s central research arm. The program is designed to create opportunities for colleges, universities and research institutes to conduct breakthrough collaborative research with HP.

Building on the success of last year’s program, HP increased the number of projects it will fund by more than 30 percent – up from 45 projects at 35 institutions worldwide in 2008. Furthermore, given the significant contributions achieved in last year’s program – including 61 published papers and 13 invention disclosures – HP extended a second year of funding to 31 professors in 2009.

The Innovation Research Program is part of HP’s open innovation strategy, which pursues research collaborations with top researchers and entrepreneurs in academia, the government and businesses worldwide to discover and nurture new opportunities and advance thinking that will improve business and life. Each of the projects is aligned with HP Labs’ focus on eight high-impact research themes that address the most complex challenges facing HP’s customers and the industry.

“Good ideas can strike anywhere and at any time. HP has recognized this and developed a unique program that is truly open, competitive and global,” said Kang Shin, professor and award winner, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “This groundbreaking initiative enhances the teaching and learning experience at universities, and establishes HP as a valuable technology partner for higher education.”

Awardees will work with HP Labs researchers on fundamental research in areas such as intelligent infrastructure, immersive interaction and cloud computing, which includes social computing. A full list of awards and descriptions of select projects is available athttp://www.hpl.hp.com/open_innovation/irp/2009_results.html.

“The Innovation Research Program is a core pillar of HP’s advanced research strategy. It allows the company to tap the brightest minds all over the world to tackle the most challenging issues facing the technical community,” said Prith Banerjee, senior vice president, Research, HP, and director, HP Labs. “Fostering this type of collaboration between industry and academia breeds a long-term partnership that is more important now than ever before.”

HP Labs Innovation Research Awards provide project funding of up to $100,000 for one year to each academic institution and are renewable for a total of three years based on research progress and HP business requirements. The next request for proposals is planned for spring 2010.

2009 HP Labs Innovation Research Program Award winners by region:

Americas

Asia Pacific

Europe, the Middle East and Africa