The NSF Translation to Practice (NSF TTP) program aims to invest in use-inspired and translational research, with a particular focus on fostering cross-sector partnerships that will catalyze the effective and efficient translation of research into practice, all the while advancing entrepreneurial education for all Americans.
This NSF TTP program benefits from lessons learned through prior NSF initiatives, including the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program, which offered researchers the ability to gain market insights, launch commercial applications, and/or facilitate industry adoption. The TTP program maintains similar objectives but offers greater flexibility, making available three tracks that represent different starting points or stages in the translation of discoveries and innovations from the laboratory to practice.
The TTP program offers three tracks:
- Explore (NSF TTP-E) invests in adventurous, “high-risk” use-inspired activities, bridging the gap between fundamental scientific curiosity and a practical desire to address real-world problems. Proposers must have a current NSF award and be interested in transitioning the foundational research to “use-inspired” activities.
- Translate (NSF TTP-T) invests in translating prior research results into technological innovations with promising commercial, economic and/or societal impacts. This track starts with use-inspired research and further matures the ideas, iterates and improves the solutions, ensures scalability and accessibility and lowers the barriers to effective translation.
- Partner (NSF TTP-P) invests in complex, multi-disciplinary, multi-organizational teams pursuing translational development projects. Here, strategic partnerships with stakeholders beyond their universities and research organizations are the essential ingredients for success and may include industry, government entities at all levels, philanthropies or other groups associated with large-scale productization and distribution.
For more information about this opportunity, refer to the solicitation or sign up for the upcoming informational webinar on August 12, 2025.