TTP Ecosystem

Creating a TTP Ecosystem Discovery and Support Resource for Cybersecurity Technology Transfer to Practice

Transition to use is a stated priority of the National Science and Technology Council’s subcommittee on Network and Information Technology Research Development (NITRD), recognizing the need to see funded research through to transition and ultimately to achieve its positive impact on society.

“Currently, a chasm exists between the research community, which focuses on exercising research components in demonstration environments, and the operations community, which acquires system prototypes containing research components and implements them in operational environments… The Strategic Plan called out the need to have activities around discovering technology; testing and evaluation; and transition, adoption, and commercialization."

The NSF Director also stated the need for an emphasis on technology transition to practice at NSF:

“First, we need to not only keep our focus on investing in fundamental science, but to step up programs that bring about a faster cycle of discovery-to-delivery." -Dr. France A. Cordova, Director, NSF.

This project aims to advance the goal of bringing about more top quality cybersecurity research projects into a faster discovery to delivery cycle.

The TTP workshop series conducted for the National Science Foundation in 2015 generated a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of current TTP practice, a discussion that included many of the acknowledged leaders of the cybersecurity TTP world. These workshops were unique in that they covered both commercial and non-profit target market offerings and included the full range of experts in critical aspects of TTP including senior academicians, entrepreneurs, financial and business experts, and legal practitioners.

The most pressing need consistently identified by PIs who committed to transferring their research results to use is creation of an NSF ecosystem for TTP that incorporated incentives for taking research beyond the laboratory and that provides resources that are readily accessible by PIs. This ecosystem view acknowledges that a diverse set of practices and insights are critical to successful TTP and that programs instructing PIs as to how best to determine when they should access that ecosystem are needed.

In this project, we offer activities and services to move toward establishing a “TTP Ecosystem Discovery and Support Resource” focused on encouraging PIs to think about TTP as a positive and accessible process for their research and we define the associated ecosystem, both as it currently exists in the United States and how it might be augmented to meet future need. We will conduct activities that will identify PIs who might be good prospects for engaging and succeeding in the TTP process and then will provide a diverse and flexible set of resources, including training, mentoring, and other support as they consider entering the TTP process.