The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) announced its inaugural NSF Translation to Practice (NSF TTP) award portfolio, investing more than $20 million across 22 projects. The awards span a range of emerging technologies, including human-super intelligence collaboration, semiconductor design and manufacturing, critical minerals, and agriculture and food production. There are three award tracks, which are intended to reflect different elements of the commercialization effort. Of interest for Digest readers may be the NSF TTP-Partner (NSF TTP-P) track, which “supports translational efforts that demand one or more partnerships for technology development and deployment. Here, strategic partnerships with stakeholders beyond U.S. institutions of higher education are essential ingredients for success and may include industry partners, government entities at all levels, philanthropies, international organizations, or other groups associated with large-scale productization and distribution."
Below are the 13 awards made in 2026 that appear within NSF’s list of TTP awards—click on each link for further information. It is unclear whether the other nine awards in the press release have not yet been posted or include awards of supplemental funding to existing projects among the 23 awards identified in NSF’s list.
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Boston University ($1,199,999.00)
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Carnegie Mellon University ($1,200,000.00)
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Cornell University ($1,200,000.00)
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Georgia Tech Research Corporation ($1,150,000.00)
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Iowa State University ($2,000,000.00)
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Johns Hopkins University ($1,200,000.00)
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Northwestern University ($728,876.00)
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Tufts University ($1,149,014.00)
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University of Alabama in Huntsville ($1,184,600.00)
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University of Arizona ($1,200,000.00)
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University of California-Irvine ($1,200,000.00)
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University of Colorado at Boulder ($1,199,341.00)
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University of Notre Dame ($1,200,000.00)
Proposals for the next potential round of funding through the NSF Translation to Practice grant program are due on Nov. 17, 2026. More information is available here.