A Workshop to Enhance America's Research Translation for Prosperity and Social Impact

This project funds a workshop to explore strategies for accelerating and increasing the capacity for translational research within a wide range of higher education institutions. A few universities are performing well, with well-established and effective tech transfer offices, offering strong incentives for research translation, engaged faculty, and munificent entrepreneurial support services. Many institutions with high potential currently underperform. Many of these institutions are minority-serving, located in geographically remote or sparse entrepreneurial ecosystems. These institutions are often under-resourced, lacking internal support for translational activities, and without incentives to promote technology transfer or value creation to their faculty. The objective of this workshop is to discuss strategies to increase the translation of research outputs and increase the benefits to constituents and communities. Realizing the full potential of research translation requires enhancing the performance and participation of a broad range institutions of higher education. NSF’s new Technology Innovation Partnerships (TIP) division and the Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program offer an opportunity to respond to the societal needs for more sustainable and inclusive growth across regions, sectors, and individuals. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.