San Diego’s Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT) plans to provide technology transition assistance to small companies working on DOD funded technologies. These companies are eligible if they are working on technologies geared to the First Responder market either though SBIR awards and DARPA grants or other DOD projects. However, the technologies must fit within the Command, Control, and Communication (C3) focus areas.
The technologies may include biomedical health monitors to check heart rate, pulse rate, and temperature but the data needs to be transmitted to the command center using cell phones. The technologies may also address automated audio, visual and intelligence gathering sensors, voice and data processing technologies, real-time personnel and vehicle location devices, and systems for real time monitoring.
Companies with selected technologies will have the opportunity via the 1401 Program initiative to participate in demonstrations and/or beta tests conducted by first responder agencies within the Southern California region. The resulting evaluations will be available to the 1401 program sponsors, first responder agencies, and the participating companies.
If an organization’s technology is selected, CCAT San Diego will provide services to help transition the technologies to the marketplace. These services will depend on the amount of funding but can be in the form of in-depth market studies, business and commercialization planning, and also provide mentoring on how to find venture and angel investment capital, plus help with other business development services.
In addition, small grants ($20k to $50K) may be provided to support technology integration, adaptation, or help design modifications to make the products more suitable for transition to the marketplace.
CCAT is funded by DOD through the Office of Naval Research as a public-private collaborative partnership among academia, industry, and government with Centers located at California State University (San Bernardino) and San Diego State University.
Awards will be accepted from April 1 to May 1, 2008 and will be announced by July 1, 2008. The performance period will be approximately 5 months (July 1 through November 30, 2008).For more information or to submit an application on CCAT and the 1401 program initiative, go to www.ccatsandiego.org.
Previously, CCAT had announced another solicitation in January 2008 that focused on advanced robotic systems, force health protection, and other key technologies needed to meet urgent DOD requirements. Applications were accepted until the end of February 2008, and the awards are scheduled to be announced by April 30, 2008. These technologies and products will be put into the hands of military customers and where appropriate into the civilian community. Technology assistance will be provided to the awardees to make the products appropriate for military applications and then ready them for smooth transition to the civilian marketplace.
