Sony Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how Sony Group Corporation of 1-chome-7-1 Konan, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0075 Japan (“Sony”, “we”, “our” or “us”) collects and processes personal information about you in connection with the provision of the Sony Women in Technology Awards with Nature (“Awards”). It also sets out how we use and protect your personal information, and your rights in relation to this information.
The Awards are organized by Sony with the cooperation of Springer Nature Limited (“Nature”). Sony and Nature act as independent controllers; this Privacy Policy describes only Sony’s processing activities. For information about Nature’s processing of personal data, please refer to Nature’s policy.
If you are a resident of California, please see our Supplemental California Privacy Statement for our California-specific privacy disclosures that may apply to you.
- Personal information we use
Personal information is information, or a combination of pieces of information, that could reasonably allow you to be identified. Sony will collect the following categories of personal information from you:
Data collected directly from you
Information provided in your application, including:
- personal details, including your name, residential address, research abstract and academic/career history;
- contact details, including your email address;
- the name of your academic/research institution; and
- information on any disability you may have, if you choose to share it and provide consent
- if you are selected as a winner or finalist: your profile photo, a short biography, and information necessary to process the prize payment and related legal, tax, accounting, identity verification, and administrative procedures, as applicable on your country or region of residence and the payment method.
- if you are selected as a winner, one year after the research prize is awarded: a brief report on how you used the research prize
- personal data provided in interviews, presentations, talks and profile questions
We do not require you to provide special category personal data or sensitive personal information, such as disability information. If you choose to provide such information, we will process it only with your consent and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. In addition, Sony does not automatically process your personal information to make decisions or conduct 'profiling' about you.
Data we collect automatically:
The Sony Women in Technology with Nature website (“website”) uses analytics tools to analyze traffic and improve the website. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.
Google Analytics:
We use Google Analytics, an analytics service provided by Google, to understand how users interact with our websites, measure website usage and performance, and improve our website and services.
In connection with Google Analytics, we collect and process information such as online identifiers, device and browser information, information about your interactions with our websites, and approximate location information. Google processes this information on our behalf as our service provider.
For more information about how Google collects and process data in connection with Google Analytics, please see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services in Google’s Privacy & Terms.
- How we use your personal information and the basis for which we use it
Sony relies on the following legal bases in order to process your personal information for the following purposes:
Legal basis for processing | Purpose |
|---|---|
Legal basis for processing To fulfil our contractual obligations to you by selection winners of the Awards | Purpose
Failure to provide personal information may prevent or delay the fulfilment of these contractual obligations. |
Legal basis for processing To meet our legitimate interests | Purpose
When we process personal information to meet our legitimate interests, we put in place robust safeguards to ensure that your privacy is protected and to ensure that our legitimate interests are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. |
Legal basis for processing Consent | Purpose
Where we ask for your consent to process your personal information, you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the details at the end of this privacy notice without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. |
- Your rights over your personal information
You have certain rights regarding your personal information, subject to applicable law. These include the following rights to:
- access your personal information;
- rectify the information we hold about you;
- erase your personal information;
- restrict our use of your personal information;
- object to our use of your personal information;
- opt-out of processing your personal information for the purposes of targeted advertising, sales, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects (you may have these rights though we do not engage in these types of processing);
- receive your personal information in a usable electronic format and transmit it to a third party (right to data portability); and
- lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
If you would like to discuss or exercise such rights, please contact us at the details below. We encourage you to contact us to update or correct your information if it changes or if the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate.
- Information Sharing
Sony may share your personal information with third parties under the following circumstances:
- Sony Group Companies. Sony works closely with other businesses and companies that fall under the Sony Group Corporation and may share certain information within the group. A list of companies within Sony Group Corporation can be found here: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/Subsidiaries/.
- Expert panel and Springer Nature. We will share your personal information with an expert panel and Springer Nature, which includes non-Sony staff, to review all applications, select finalists of outstanding applicants and select winners from the finalists.
- Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature website. We will publish winner information on our website.
- Banks, payment service providers, tax advisors, accountants, auditors, identity verification providers, and other service providers, where necessary to process prize payments and related legal, tax, accounting, identity verification, and administrative procedures.
- Law enforcement agency, court, regulator, government authority or similar third party. We will share your personal information with these parties where we believe this is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation, or otherwise to protect our rights or the rights of any third party.
- Business Transfer. We may share your personal information with service providers, advisors, potential transactional partners, or other third parties in connection with the consideration, negotiation, or completion of a corporate transaction in which we are acquired by or merge with another company, or we sell, liquidate, or transfer all or a portion of our assets. Should such a transaction or transfer occur, we will use reasonable efforts to try to ensure that the entity to which we transfer your personal information uses it in a manner that is consistent with this privacy notice.
- Professional advisers. In individual instances, we may share your personal information with professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors, and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
Since we operate as part of a global business, the recipients referred to above may be located outside the jurisdiction in which you are located (or in which we provide the services). See the section on "International Data Transfer" below for more information.
- Information Security and Storage
Sony implements technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk to the personal information we process. These measures are aimed at ensuring the ongoing integrity and confidentiality of personal information. We evaluate these measures on a regular basis to ensure the security of the processing.
We will retain your personal information as long as necessary for the purposes set out above, including publishing information about winners on the Sony Women in Technology with Nature website. Beyond this period, we will only retain your information if required by law or if there are outstanding claims or complaints that reasonably require retention.
- International Data Transfer
Your personal information may be processed, stored, and transferred for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy from your country to countries which may not be regarded as providing the same level of data protection as your country.
We will put in place appropriate safeguards (such as contractual commitments) to ensure that your data is adequately protected, and transfers of your personal information meet the requirements of any applicable data protection legislation, such as the EU standard contractual clauses. For more information on the appropriate safeguards in place, please contact us at the details below.
- Contact Us
Sony is the controller responsible for the personal information we collect and process.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the way in which your personal information has been used, or if you wish to exercise any legal right you have in respect of your personal information, please contact WIT@sony.com.
We are committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of any complaint or concern about privacy. If, however, you believe that we have not been able to assist with your complaint or concern, you have the right to make a complaint to a local data protection authority.
- Changes to the Policy
We may modify or update this privacy notice from time to time.
If we change this privacy notice, we will notify you of the changes. Where changes to this privacy notice will have a fundamental impact on the nature of the processing or otherwise have a substantial impact on you, we will give you sufficient advance notice so that you have the opportunity to exercise your rights (e.g., to object to the processing).
[2026. 11. 5]
Additional Notices – U.S. Privacy Rights
Your Privacy Rights/Jurisdiction-Specific Notices:
- Policy Regarding Children/Minors
The Awards are intended for a general audience and are not directed to, and do not knowingly collect personal data from users under age 18. If you are a parent or guardian and are concerned that your child has provided us with personal data (as defined by applicable law), you should contact us as indicated below.
- Contact us
If you have any questions or concerns about our practices regarding your personal information or this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: WIT@sony.com.
- Your Privacy Rights/Jurisdiction Specific Notices:
Certain jurisdictions provide rights with respect to your personal data. These may include the right to request access to your personal information; to request that Sony corrects, amends, deletes, erases, destroys, blocks or restricts the processing or use of your personal information; and to object to Sony’s processing of your personal information. These rights may be limited, such as where fulfilling your request would reveal personal data about another person or if you ask us to delete information, we are required by law to retain or have compelling legitimate interests in retaining. If you would like to exercise any rights available to you, please contact us at: WIT@sony.com.
(i) Notice to Residents of U.S. States (including, but not limited to: VA, CO, CT, MT, IA, DE, UT, TN, TX, FL, OR, RI, KY, IN, NH, NJ, MN, OR and MD; excluding California)
We set forth in our Privacy Policy and Table 1 the categories of personal data we process, the purposes for processing personal data, the categories of personal data shared, and the categories of third parties with whom personal data is shared.
Consumers in certain states with comprehensive privacy laws may have the following rights:
- Right to Know and Access. The right to confirm whether we are processing personal data about you and to access such data. Residents in certain states may also obtain a list of third parties with whom we have shared personal data.
- Right to Correct. The right to correct inaccurate personal data we hold about you.
- Right to Delete. The right to delete the personal data provided by you or obtained about you.
- Right to Data Portability: The right to obtain a copy of the personal data previously collected by us and, to the extent feasible, in a readily usable format to allow data portability.
- Right to Appeal. The right to submit an appeal to us, if for any reason you would like to appeal a decision we made relating to your request to exercise your privacy rights. Please include your full name, the basis for your appeal, and any additional information to consider.
If you would like to submit a request to exercise one of the rights listed above, you can do so by contacting us at: WIT@sony.com
- Right to Opt-Out of Targeted Advertising and “Sale” of Personal Data. Sony does not process personal data for targeted advertising and does not sell personal information, as those terms are defined under applicable U.S. state privacy laws, in connection with the Awards.
- Right to Opt-Out of Automated Decision Making and Profiling. Sony does not engage inautomated decision making or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects in connection with the Awards.
(ii) Notice to California Residents: California Privacy Notice
This California Privacy Notice is effective as of [2026.11.5].
This California Privacy Notice supplements our Privacy Policy and sets forth the disclosures and rights for California Consumers regarding their personal information, as required by the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, and any implementing regulations adopted thereunder (“CPRA”). Terms (including defined capitalized terms) used in this California Privacy Notice have the same meanings given in the CPRA, unless otherwise defined.
California Consumer Rights. Subject to certain exceptions, as a California consumer, you may have the following rights regarding your Personal Information:
- Right to Know. Request information regarding the Personal Information we collect, use, disclose, and sell, including the categories and/or specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you.
- Right to Delete. Request deletion of the Personal Information we have collected about you.
- Right to Correct. Request correction of inaccurate Personal Information we maintain about you.
- Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing. Request to opt-out of the “sale” of your Personal Information or the “sharing” of your Personal Information to a third party for cross-contextual behavioral advertising (i.e., targeted advertising).
- Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information. Request use and disclosure of your sensitive Personal Information be limited to that which is necessary for operation of the Awards.
Authorized Agents. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. Agents should make requests following the instructions on exercising rights included below. We require proof of signed authorization in order to process the request. If an agent is acting pursuant to a valid power of attorney under California law, we will process the request in accordance with applicable law. For requests to know, delete and correct, we additionally require you to directly verify your identity with us or to directly confirm your authorization for the agent to make the request in order to process the request.
Verifying Requests. For requests to know, delete, and correct, we need to verify your identity in order to process your request and may request additional information or documentation to be used solely for the purposes of identity verification.
Exercising Your Rights.
Right to Know; Right to Delete; Right to Correct.
If you are a California Consumer and would like to exercise your Right to Know, Right to Delete, and/or Right to Correct, please submit your request at: WIT@sony.com.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing.
Sony does not sell Personal Information or share Personal Information for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under CPRA, in connection with the Awards.
Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information.
We may collect Sensitive Personal Information for the Awards where applicable, as described in this Privacy Policy. To exercise your right to limit the use of any Sensitive Personal Information that we may collect, please contact at: WIT@sony.com.
Data Retention. Sony retains Personal Information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes outlined in this California Privacy Notice. Sony deletes or de-identifies Personal Information when it is no longer necessary to retain such information for the purposes for which it was collected, except as otherwise required by law.
Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a Consumer’s Privacy Rights.
California Consumers have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising CPRA rights. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CPRA rights.
Personal Information We Collect & Purposes for Collection.
The Personal Information we collect about you will depend upon how you interact with us. Accordingly, we may not collect all of the information below about you. In addition to the below, we may collect and/or use additional types of information but will do so only after providing notice to you and obtaining your consent, to the extent such notice and consent is required by applicable law. We may use Personal Information for the business or commercial purposes described in Table 1:
Categories of Personal Information Collected | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information | Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose | Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising | Sources of Personal Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Identifiers: Such as: name, mailing address, residential address, contact information; online or device identifiers such as Cookie ID or IP address; ORCID ID; photo; financial account details and social security number or other government ID where necessary to process prize payments. | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Any categories of Personal Information described in subdivision (e) of Section 1798.80* *Some of this information may also be included in other categories of information | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law Such as: disability or neurodivergence disclosure. | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Internet or Other Electronics and Network Information: Such as: website usage and history; social media accounts. | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Professional or employment-related information: Such as: Professional email address, employer details, research team and collaborators, funding sources; professional bio; academic/career history. | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Education information: Such as degree information, institution name, degree certificate, education history. | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Sensitive Personal Information: Such as: disability or neurodivergence disclosure; social security number or other government ID where necessary to process prize payments. | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Categories of Personal Information Collected Geolocation data | Purposes for Collection of Personal Information
| Who We Share Personal Information With for a Business Purpose
| Third Parties We Sell To, or Share With for Cross Context Behavioral Advertising
| Sources of Personal Information
|
Additional Notice to California Residents:
If you are a California resident, under the California “Shine the Light” law, you have the right to receive: a) information identifying any third party company(ies) to which we may have disclosed, within the past year, Personal Information pertaining to you and your family for that company's direct marketing purposes; and b) a description of the categories of Personal Information disclosed. To obtain such information, please email your request to, and include your name, email address, mailing address or zip code, and a reference to “Your California Privacy Rights – Sony Women in Technology Awards.” We are not responsible for requests that are not labeled or sent properly, or do not have complete information.
(iii) Notice to Nevada Residents
If you are a Nevada resident, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of certain personally identifiable information we have collected about you to third parties. Sony does not currently sell your personally identifiable information as those terms are defined under Nevada law. However, if you wish to submit a request to opt-out of the sale of such information if Sony were to engage in such a sale in the future, you may submit your request at: WIT@sony.com. Your request must reference “Your Nevada Rights – Sony Women in Technology Awards” and include your name, mailing address, zip code, and email address. We are not responsible for requests that do not come through the designated request mechanism or do not contain sufficient information to allow us to process your request. We will respond to valid requests within 60 days.