Transition to Practice

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has White House support to assist in transitioning cyber security technologies developed through federally funded research and development (R&D) into broader utilization. The Transition to Practice (TTP) program was identified by the Federal Networking and Information Technology R&D (NITRD) program of the White House as one of a set of interrelated priorities for the United States Government (USG) – and established DHS as the lead for this interagency initiative. This newly initiated program, in alignment with Initiatives 4 and 9 of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) [http://www.whitehouse.gov/cybersecurity/comprehensive-national-cybersecurity-initiative], builds on the S&T Directorate’s process of funding projects through the full R&D lifecycle – research, development, testing, evaluation and transition. This project supports DHS S&T partnering with agencies across the U.S. Government’s research and development community to identify mature technologies that are the best candidates for transition.

The goal of this effort is to: (1) identify mature technologies that address an existing or imminent cyber security gap in public or private systems that impact national security, (2) identify and fund necessary incremental improvements, and (3) increase utilization through partnerships, product development efforts and marketing strategies.

Efforts will focus on identified technologies that have a reasonably high probability of successful transition within a two-year timeframe, and which would have notable impact on the cybersecurity of our nation’s networks or systems. This is a very ambitious endeavor with enormous potential for positive impact. TTP will provide a connection point for cyber security researchers, the federal government, and the private sector to transition technology from the research lab to the Homeland Security Enterprise and the commercial marketplace.