Overview
The Office of Research, Transition, and Application (ORTA) fully leverages NOAA’s R&D enterprise to serve NOAA’s mission and benefit society by accelerating and facilitating the transition of R&D within NOAA to operations, applications, commercialization, and other uses. It also accomplishes this by working to develop and implement policies that guide and manage transition in NOAA. ORTA comprises the Technology Partnerships Office (TPO), the Uncrewed Systems Research Transition Office (UxSRTO), as well as direct support for R&D transition policies and guidance across NOAA.


The Technology Partnerships Office (TPO) and the Uncrewed Systems Research Transition Office (UxSRTO) both sit in ORTA with separate but related functions. TPO fosters science and technological innovation through federal investments in research and development (R&D), partnerships, or licensing opportunities at NOAA. UxSRTO supports NOAA’s Uncrewed Systems Strategy by maintaining robust R&D for successful transition of initial concepts to operational readiness to support the NOAA mission.