Synthetic Data Generation for Multimodal Perception call for proposals: Fall 2026

The Synthetic Data Generation for Multimodal Perception call for proposals is a Fall 2026 round of the Amazon Research Awards. It asks for research that makes synthetic training data for models of everyday human activity, so coverage, causal consistency, longer episodes, and control of the scenario can scale with compute rather than hours of human labeling. The page ties the call to Amazon devices such as Echo, Alexa+, Fire TV, Kindle, Ring, Blink, and eero.

Selected principal investigators may receive unrestricted funds, no more than $80,000 USD on average, and AWS Promotional Credits, no more than $40,000 USD on average. They also get training, including AWS tutorials and hands on sessions with Amazon scientists and engineers. Awards are one time unrestricted gifts. The budget should list expected costs in USD and should not include administrative overhead. The awards panel sets the final amount.

The topics are text to simulation of human motion and object contact, audio and video that stay causally consistent, long episodes from a first person or fixed viewpoint, and action conditioned scenario synthesis with world models. Proposals should name the topic, the evaluation plan, what will be done in the one year award, and the open source code, datasets, or benchmarks they plan to release. Amazon says it will weigh scientific quality, fit to the topics, feasibility, evaluation rigor, and interest in open source releases.

The principal investigator must be a full time faculty member at an accredited academic institution, or a permanent researcher at a non governmental organisation with recognised legal status equivalent to 501(c)(3) status in the United States. They must be at or above the age of majority. Each principal investigator may submit only one proposal to the Amazon Research Awards in this call period. Amazon employees cannot receive an award. The program is void in Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and the Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine.

The submission period is 1 October to 4 November 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Decision letters go out in February 2027. Proposals should follow the proposal template and are encouraged to stay within 4 pages, not counting appendices. Submit through the call page.

Quick answers

How much does it pay?

Unrestricted funds, no more than $80,000 USD on average, plus AWS Promotional Credits, no more than $40,000 USD on average. It is a grant and takes no equity.

When is the deadline?

The deadline is 4 November 2026.

Who can apply?

A principal investigator who is a full time faculty member at an accredited academic institution, or a permanent researcher at a non governmental organisation with recognised legal status equivalent to US 501(c)(3) status, and who is at or above the age of majority. One proposal per principal investigator per call period. Void in Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and the Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine. Applicants from anywhere in the world can enter, unless the eligibility rules say otherwise.

How do I apply?

Through the official page at amazon.science. The link is at the top of this page.

When are decisions sent?

Decision letters go out in February 2027.

Can the budget include overhead?

No. The budget should list expected costs in USD and should not include administrative overhead.

Who receives the cash gift?

The rules describe a one time unrestricted gift to the principal investigator's institution or organisation.