2025 Call for Proposals
Printable Version
Submit Your Proposal by September 12, 2025
Information and Partnering Webinar: July 23 (U.S.)/July 24 (Taiwan) (RSVP here by July 18)
This program aims to facilitate both research and development collaboration and the delivery of talent, innovations, and resources from universities/institutions to impactful contributions, building foundations for the future Grand Challenge Project collaborations. The goal is to promote economic and societal development through the research and development of innovative technologies, while facilitating collaboration between the two entities.
Each approved project will receive a total grant of USD $150,000, (approximately NTD $4,400,000) with $75,000 (approximately NTD $2,200,000) awarded to the UAAT Principal Investigator and $75,000 (approximately NTD $2,200,000) awarded to the U of Illinois Principal Investigator. A minimum of four projects will be funded.
Applications should be jointly submitted by both UAAT and U of I faculty. The UAAT Secretariat and the U of I Office of the Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation (OVPEDI) will administer the program.
Solicitation Areas
- Priority focus areas for the program include Semiconductor + Quantum, AI & Data across all fields. This may include the following:
- Advanced VLSI: technologies beyond 1nm, IC design innovation, advanced packaging (heterogeneous integration/interconnect, 3D/2.5D IC, chiplet stacking), advanced memories, advanced materials, smart manufacturing & metrology, etc.
- Next-gen compound semiconductors: power & high-speed devices and integrated circuits
- Quantum computing/communication/information: materials, devices, architectures, software, simulation application, integration of quantum processor with high performance computing, etc.
- Quantum and nano-photonics for quantum technology
- Advanced AI & Data technologies: efficient and trustworthy deep learning, multimodal machine learning, generative AI, efficient mining on data streaming, geospatial information technology for urban environment and health, etc.
- AI hardware: intelligent edge computing, LLM (large language model) accelerator, in-memory computing, low precision/analog computing, digital twins for urban environment and health, etc.
- AI applications: sustainability, smart healthcare, smart manufacturing, cybersecurity, robotics, autonomous/smart vehicles, computer vision, remote sensing, engineering, materials, agriculture, education, business, etc.
Eligibility
- Both UAAT and U of I applicants must be full-time, tenure-track faculty members for the duration of the funding period.
- Each project must have at least one UAAT principal investigator (PI) and one U of I PI.
- Each project must include participation of at least two UAAT member universities and one U of I member university/institution (including the universities to which the PIs belong). The list of member universities in UAAT and member institutes in U of I can be found in Attachment 1.
Funding Information
- Each approved project will receive a total grant of USD $150,000, (approximately NTD $4,400,000) with $75,000 (approximately NTD $2,200,000) awarded to the UAAT Principal Investigator and $75,000 (approximately NTD $2,200,000) awarded to the U of Illinois Principal Investigator.
- A minimum of four projects will be funded. The number of projects funded will be determined by mutual agreement between UAAT and U of I.
- Funding period is one year, starting from December 1, 2025 and ending on November 30, 2026. Unless jointly approved by the coordinators, there will be no extensions beyond this timeframe.
- Funding not spent by the end of the funding period must be returned so that unspent balances can be re-allocated.
- Funding covers international travel by university/institution faculty members and students, hosting scholars from the other university (daily stipends in principle), international events, meetings, personnel expenses for postdocs and student (no faculty salaries), supplies, research equipment, and additional expenses that are necessary to facilitate the advancement of research.
- Funding does not cover indirect cost recoveries (ICR).
- Funding should only be utilized for the selected proposal and approved budget plan.
- All expenses must comply with the guidelines of the respective parties to which reimbursement is to be sought.
Application Information
- All proposals must be jointly submitted by both UAAT faculty member(s) and U of I faculty member(s).
- All proposals must address the importance and significance of the project, technical details, overall planning, the clarification of intellectual property rights that are likely to be generated (position and strategy), and plans for future developments of the collaboration project at the end of this project that are envisioned.
- To promote international academia-industry collaboration, collaboration and partnership with industries (e.g., in forms of providing matching fund, internship, R&D collaboration, joint workforce/talent development etc.) in the project are encouraged. Higher priority will be given to proposals that include corporate/industry partners and university-industry collaboration.
- All proposals should clearly explain the motivation for holding the activity, including how the relevant UAAT and U of I institutes or departments are involved and can benefit in the long term from this cooperation and what synergies can arise.
- Proposed activities should have a clearly defined focus with scientific and technical merit, demonstrate innovation and economic/societal impact, and serve as a catalyst for moving research forward to a path of Grand Challenge project.
- Proposed activities can take place either at UAAT or U of I.
- Proposed activities’ inclusion of third parties is permitted; however, the additional costs must be covered by these parties themselves.
- Please refer to the Attachment 2 for the Proposal Template.
- Priority will be given to applying teams which have not received previous support within this scheme. Projects that received funding in a prior cycle must submit a proposal with a substantially different focus when submitting new proposals in the current cycle, highlighting the differences between the new proposal and the previous one, especially with regard to their vision and expected impact.
- To apply, joint project proposals should be submitted to the online application system by September 12th, 2025.
- Late applications will not be considered.
Selection and Result Notification
- Proposal selection will be made by a joint selection committee consisting of UAAT and U of I representatives.
- Selection of representatives will be coordinated by the UAAT Secretariat and the U of I System OVPEDI.
- The joint selection committee reserves the authority over the proposal selection, taking into account strategic priorities and the availability of funding.
- Higher priority will be given to proposals that include corporate/industry partners. Letters of intent (support) from industry partners should be included as clear indication.
- 5.5 Funding will be provided on a competitive basis, following the selection criteria below:
- 40% Scientific merit, technical merit, excellence of innovation potential, potential impact
- 20% Clear plan and goals for the activity during the one-year program
- 20% Description of the UAAT and U of I PI’s research profiles (excellence of project leaders, scope of the fields/labs represented in the proposed activity) and synergy between them
- 20% Information on how the cooperation can be sustained beyond the initial funding phase, plans for securing funding for the project at the end of this grant, and other forms of future development (e.g., commercialization, economic impacts etc.) that are envisioned. Suitable outline of how the future development or the generation of the listed benefits will be achieved, if applicable. Plans to assess and validate the quality and effectiveness of the project’s outcomes. Higher priority will be given to proposals that include corporate/industry partners and university-industry collaboration.Successful applicants will receive a letter of award outlining the process to accept the funding.
- Successful applicants will receive a letter of award outlining the process to accept the funding.
- Feedback on individual applications will not be provided.
Intellectual Property
- For purposes of this program, intellectual property will remain with the university that generated such intellectual property (what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours).
- In the event that new intellectual property will be generated jointly by the universities/institutions from the program, both sides will agree to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with respect to intellectual property ownership, management, protection and further development and exploitation.
Recipient Obligation
- Recipients must mention the funding in all appropriate media, including any events arising from activities supported by this funding should include an acknowledgment of “UAAT-U of I Joint Research Project” and any publications/presentations arising from activities supported by this funding should include acknowledgment of “This publication/presentation is supported in part by the Joint Research Project between University Academic Alliance in Taiwan and the University of Illinois System.”
- Recipients must submit a summary report/presentation two months upon the end of the funding period.
- Recipients are strictly prohibited from including or sharing any data, materials, or information that is classified, export-controlled, proprietary, or otherwise sensitive from a national security perspective as part of their proposal or during the course of the collaboration. All research activities must comply with applicable laws and institutional policies regarding intellectual property, codes of conduct, data protection, export control, and research security.
- Recipients are expected to participate in bilateral exchange activities and presentation meetings organized under this program.
Important Dates
- July 3, 2025 – Call for Proposals published
- July 18, 2025 – RSVP for Information and Partnering Webinar. RSVP at link.
- July 21, 2025 at 12 pm CDT – Submit slides for optional two-minute talk during Webinar
- July 23, 2025, 8-9 pm CDT – Information and Partnering Webinar (Optional)
- July 24, 2025, 9-10 am (Taiwan Standard Time) – Information and Partnering Webinar (Optional)
- September 12, 2025 – Project proposal submission deadline. Submit at link.
- November, 2025 – Announcement of awards
- December 1, 2025 – Proposed activities commence
For further information, please contact:
UAAT: Chia-Lin Huang (clhuang636@ntu.edu.tw; +886 (0) 2 3366 3267)
University of Illinois: Jisu Hong (jisuhong@uillinois.edu; +1 217-300-6686)