Case Study:
Sony and Nature Design a Career-Long Community for Women in Technology
Sony launched the Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature in 2024 to recognize outstanding early- and mid-career women researchers in technology. Each winner receives $250,000 to accelerate research that benefits society and the planet, selected by a judging panel that includes Nature Editor-in-Chief Dr. Magdalena Skipper and Sony’s Hiroaki Kitano. The award is now in its third cycle.
Sony and Nature saw an opportunity bigger than the prize: make the award the entry point into a lasting community of winners, finalists, and judges that would strengthen academic-industry partnerships, accelerate the representation of women in STEM, and turn a one-time award into a career-long relationship.
The Challenge
Most awards programs end at the ceremony. Few offer winners meaningful value beyond the prize money, and Sony and Nature had no existing community to build on. In the award’s inaugural year, the teams needed to understand what would set their program apart, what winners and finalists needed most at their career stage, and how two global organizations could share ownership. They also needed a plan their lean team could start executing right away, built from limited early data.
The Approach
CMJ served as researcher, strategist, and facilitator for Sony and Nature, delivering:
LANDSCAPE RESEARCH across 30+ awards, fellowships, and accelerators (including L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science, Schmidt Science Fellows, and Y Combinator) to identify what makes award communities valuable and where Sony could stand apart.
FOUNDER AND JUDGE INTERVIEWS with award founders Hiroaki Kitano of Sony and Dr. Magdalena Skipper, Editor in Chief of Nature, plus three award judges, to align on vision, resourcing, and long-term involvement.
IN-PERSON WORKSHOP IN TOKYO with award winners, finalists, and the Sony team, followed by a member survey to validate needs and priorities.
MULTI-STAKEHOLDER VALUE MAPPING to define what Sony, Nature, winners, judges, and future partners each gain from the community.
3-YEAR COMMUNITY STRATEGY AND 5-YEAR ROADMAP covering programs, KPIs, staffing, technology, and tiered budget scenarios.
Outcomes
A CLEAR MARKET DIFFERENTIATOR career-long engagement with winners and judges at the highest caliber of the technology field, in a category where most programs stop at the prize.
A FOCUSED AUDIENCE STRATEGY prioritizing early- to mid-career researchers, the group that founders, judges, and winners identified as most underserved.
A READY-TO-LAUNCH YEAR 1 PLAN built on four lean programs (speaking opportunities at Sony and industry events, strategic introductions, a curated newsletter, and a lightweight online community), designed for minimal new spend.
A 5-YEAR ROADMAP to scale through an annual retreat, an owned community platform, a formal advisory council, and a sustainable long-term operating structure.
A SHARED MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK with operational and impact KPIs, from member activity to growth in Sony’s academic-industry partnerships.
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“I feel equipped with the essential building blocks to move this community into the next phase; it was especially helpful to reach ‘ground truth’ with the Year 1 community.”
— Kate Mitchell, Senior Communications Manager at Sony
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“I’m very happy with how our journey together progressed. It’s great to have a concrete set of goals and realistic tactics/milestones to work toward. Very much appreciate the CMJ team taking what was at times much-less-than-hoped-for info and still shaping from them a workable strategy for us.”
— Miki Anan, Senior Manager of Entertainment Partnerships at Sony