The Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship East Asia is a research fellowship run by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. for teams at universities the program invites.
For 2026, each team is led by a faculty member, and students may join the team; the 2025 round was instead a competition for PhD students. Teams propose one year of innovative research, and Qualcomm researchers choose the winners.
Benefits & funding
- US$40,000 per winning proposal, for one year.
- Paid to the lead applicant’s university department, not to individuals, under that university’s active research collaboration agreement with Qualcomm.
Eligibility
- Open to faculty at the universities the program invites; the list sits on the official page.
- Students may be included in the faculty principal investigator’s team.
- In the 2025 round, applicants had to be full-time PhD students at a listed university and submit everything in English (2025 official rules); the 2026 page states no language rule.
- No nationality, residence, age or experience requirement is stated.
Can you apply?
Check who can apply
No nationality, residency, education, experience, gender or age limit is listed. The other conditions are under Eligibility.
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We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1Prepare a one-page abstract and a three-page innovation proposal, plus one page of references.
- 2Upload both as a zip file to the online portal by the deadline; the portal link is posted on the official page four weeks before it.
- 3Qualcomm researchers review the proposals; winners are notified by email and announced on the website.
Program timeline
2025 round abstract and proposal deadlines
Nov 15, 2024 / Mar 15, 2025
2026 application deadline (closed)
Aug 31, 2026
Next round
dates not yet announced