National Science Foundation Translation to Practice

The U.S. NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) partners across sectors to advance three primary focus areas – accelerating technology translation and development, fostering regional innovation and economic growth, and preparing the American workforce for future high-wage jobs in STEM fields. The translation of research to practice ensures that the insights and innovations developed through scientific study and experimentation have tangible, positive impacts for the Nation. These impacts include improving the quality of life, promoting economic and job growth, ensuring national security, and maintaining global competitiveness. Indeed, scientific and engineering breakthroughs have the potential to address critical societal challenges in industries such as aerospace, agriculture, communications, education, energy, healthcare, national security, and transportation – but the translation of discoveries and innovations from the laboratory to society often takes many forms including non-linear pathways. The NSF TTP program was developed with several goals in mind:

• To identify and support use-inspired research and translational activities enabling a continuum from foundational research to practice;

• To develop partnerships and collaborations between institutions of higher education and other entities (e.g., industry, state/local/national government agencies, philanthropies, open-source ecosystems, for-benefit, for-profit and non-profit organizations, international organizations, etc.);

• To promote and advance the education and training of students and postdoctoral researchers, encouraging the participation of all Americans in STEM including innovation and entrepreneurship; and

• To identify future customer needs and opportunities and bring these to the forefront in the conduct of use-inspired research and translational activities.

The NSF TTP program offers three tracks that represent different starting points or stages in moving...