1. What does "TTP" stand for?
2. Can original, unpublished research be proposed under SaTC TTP?
3. What is the difference between the TTP and CORE designations within SaTC?
4. What is the size of the SaTC program's TTP designation?
5. Does a successful TTP-designated proposal require an industrial collaboration?
6. What is the difference between SaTC program's TTP designation and the NSF Innovation Corps™ (NSF I-Corps™) program?
7. What is the difference between the SaTC program's TTP designation and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program?
8. How does this map to the U.S. Department of Defense's Technical Readiness Levels (TRL)?
9. Can a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) supplemental funding request be submitted pursuant to a TTP-designated project?
10. Does the TTP-designated proposal have to leverage the proposing principal investigator's (PI) original research?
11. Does the TTP-designated proposal require a deployment plan in a target environment?
12. Is there a limit on how many proposals I can submit as either PI, co-PI, or senior personnel?

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Information about NSF's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program can be found on the program webpage at https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504709 and in the FY 2019 program solicitation at NSF 18-572.

1. What does "TTP" stand for?

   TTP is the Transition To Practice designation. TTP bridges the gap between research and production, and supports the development, implementation, and deployment of later-stage and applied security or privacy research into an operational environment.

2. Can original, unpublished research be proposed under SaTC TTP?

   The SaTC program's TTP designation is not an appropriate target for a basic research proposal. TTP targets later-stage applied security or privacy research and development that is ready for transition into an operational environment.

3. What is the difference between the TTP and CORE designations within SaTC?

   The major portion of publishable and basic research falls under the SaTC program's CORE designation. A TTP-designated proposal must specifically describe how the successful research results will be leveraged to produce a new capability with an ultimate goal of operational deployment into an organization or technology.

4. What is the size of the SaTC program's TTP designation?

   The TTP designation is relatively small and highly competitive. In FY 2018, the SaTC program made one Medium award and three Small awards with the TTP designation. In FY 2019, based on availability of funds, the expectation is to make between one to two Medium awards, and two to four Small awards, with this designation.

5. Does a successful TTP-designated proposal require an industrial collaboration?

   No, this is not a requirement. However, as the program description states, it is a main path to transition research into practice. TTP-designated proposals must clearly identify their target audience or customer. This does not require commercial partners, if not appropriate. Support letters from early adopters of the technology are encouraged.

6. What is the difference between SaTC program's TTP designation and the NSF Innovation Corps™ (NSF I-Corps™) program?

   I-Corps is an entrepreneurial education program that aims to assist researchers to learn to identify product opportunities that can emerge from academic research, and gain skills in entrepreneurship through training in customer discovery and guidance from established entrepreneurs.

   TTP-designated awards are focused on technology maturation and transition, rather than explicit entrepreneurship and commercialization. More information about I-Corps can be found at https://www.nsf.gov/i-corps.

7. What is the difference between the SaTC program's TTP designation and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program?

   The SBIR program targets existing small businesses located in the United States. NSF's SBIR program, and the related Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, helps startups develop their ideas and bring them to market. The SaTC program's TTP designation targets academic and research institutions to bridge technology from research into broader adoption. More information about SBIR/STTR is available at https://seedfund.nsf.gov/.

8. How does this map to the U.S. Department of Defense's Technical Readiness Levels (TRL)?

   The TTP designation roughly translates to TRL levels 5-7. In this scale, one is the lowest level of technology readiness and nine is the highest.

9. Can a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) supplemental funding request be submitted pursuant to a TTP-designated project?

   Yes, an REU supplement is allowable.

10. Does the TTP-designated proposal have to leverage the proposing principal investigator's (PI) original research?

    No. The TTP-designated research does not have to be building upon the proposing PI's original research. The SaTC program encourages participants to implement, harden, or generalize later-stage applied security or privacy research into an operational environment in order to bridge the gap between research and production. See the SaTC program solicitation for topic areas of interest.

11. Does the TTP-designated proposal require a deployment plan in a target environment?

    Successful TTP-designated proposals include a high-quality deployment plan.

12. Is there a limit on how many proposals I can submit as either PI, co-PI, or senior personnel?

    Yes. Individuals may participate as PI, co-PI, or senior personnel in no more than three SaTC proposals in a given fiscal year (October 1 through September 30th), including in at most one proposal designated as CORE, at most one proposal designated as TTP, and at most one proposal designated as EDU (Education). These limits are unrelated to any limits imposed in other NSF program solicitations.

Questions regarding the TTP designation should be addressed directly to SaTC Program Officer Kevin Thompson (kthompso@nsf.gov) in the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure or SaTC Associate Program Officer Shannon Beck (sbeck@nsf.gov) in the Division of Computer and Network Systems.