The Customers
The CCAT program was designed to meet the diverse objectives/needs, as noted below, of three principal customers - the congressional sponsors, DoD agencies and military units, and technology researchers and scientists from industry, academia and government laboratories.
- Congressional Sponsors - regional economic development through promotion of high-tech small business enterprise and return on investment through commercialization of technologies developed under federally funded research programs (i.e., SBIR, federal laboratories, etc.).
- DoD agencies/military - identification and transition of technologies that address priority DoD requirements for military operations and support for DoD-funded R&D programs such as SBIR TAP, Joint Robotics Program, T2, and others.
- Researchers/Scientists - customized technology commercialization and business development awards and services for industry, academia, and federal laboratories to expedite the transition of their technology to the commercial and/or government marketplace.
The Model
The CCAT program was designed from the ground up by a team of technology entrepreneurs, university researchers, and government technology transfer experts. The CCAT model takes the traditional technology transfer process and expands it into a multi-dimensional market-driven approach that leverages the diverse capabilities of industry, academia, and government professionals.
This new approach bridges the traditional gap between technology development in the laboratory environment and introduction of a new product into the government and/or commercial marketplace.
Customized services are provided to meet the needs of each client technology and to address one or more of the following factors that may precipitate a technology falling into the "valley of death":
- Immaturity of technology development
- Inadequate intellectual property protection
- Ineffective business planning
- Insufficient investment capital
- Lack of business acumen and experience
- Poor understanding of the market
The Project
CCAT was awarded a contract with SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego to perform commercialization services for the government’s Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CAT) Program.
The goal of the CAT program is to bridge the gap that exists between the generators of technology, the commercial marketplace and the Department of Defense. This includes facilitating transition of emerging technologies to the DoD acquisition activities and commercial opportunities within the civilian marketplace. The DoD can gain significant public benefit through commercialization of dual-use products. The two primary objectives are:
Objective 1:
- Reach out to academic, industry, and government researchers to identify innovative technology solutions enabling the military to more effectively meet their national and international objectives.
Objective 2:
- Promote private sector commercialization of innovative technologies derived from Federal Research & Development programs including those developed in government laboratories.
To accomplish these objectives, CCAT:
- Assists Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Transition Assistance Program (TAP) graduates to transition from Phase II to Phase III.
- Collaborates with the Office of Naval Research in the Technology Transition (T2) initiative to promote commercialization of government laboratory technologies with dual use (government and commercial) applications.
- Conducts nationwide solicitations to identify and commercialize technologies from industry and academia that address DoD-defined priority requirements.
- Promotes the transition of DoD technologies to the first responder community in support of the Congressionally mandated 1401 program.
