From Prototype to Product: CCAT-OLETC Partnership

OLETC, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ), was established in 1995 to help commercialize innovative technologies for public safety. CCAT is a public/private partnership dedicated to speeding up the commercialization of promising technologies to aid homeland security and law enforcement. The CCAT-OLETC partnership was formed to assist inventors and entrepreneurs who are looking to enter the public-safety market. OLETC will provide guidance during CCAT's application review process and counsel CCAT clients whose technologies relate to law enforcement or public safety. In return, CCAT will provide market studies, business plans, and product development funding to OLETC-assisted entities that pass CCAT's proposal review process. Although the OLETC-CCAT partnership is in its early stages, OLETC project managers have already participated in CCAT grant reviews, and CCAT representatives have attended meetings of OLETC's advisory council. Twice a year, inventors present technologies to the council, which provides feedback on the technology's potential to meet the needs of law enforcement and corrections. The NLECTC system's Border Research and Technology Center (BRTC), played a key role in bringing OLETC and CCAT together; and from the outset of the partnership, BRTC has participated in CCAT's application review process by providing feedback from law enforcement and corrections practitioners.