Background Material: Purpose of ICAT

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This page last reviewed March 27, 2009

Development of any new air pollution control technology is a process that ranges from basic research, including idea development and proof-of-concept, through prototyping, demonstration and commercialization (see below). Many times, development proceeds through the early stages only to stop for various reasons upon reaching the demonstration stage. Some of these reasons include lack of funding, technical difficulties or lack of specific technical or commercial expertise. ARB's ICAT program is intended to provide support and incentivize continued development through the demonstration stage for technologies that show promise for reducing air pollution in California. ICAT does this by providing funding, technical support, and networking with other parties who can bring their own resources and expertise.

Stages of Technology Development

1. Idea Development

2. Proof of Concept

3. Pilot/Prototype

4. Demonstration

5. Commercial Sales

The Innovative Clean Air Technologies (ICAT) program supports businesses through steps 3 and 4. The follow-on to a successful ICAT project is the successful commercial introduction of a new technology.

ICAT supports technically solid projects that can demonstrate the commercial utility in California of technical innovations that will improve emission prevention or control. ICAT assists technologies that can help reduce emissions while promoting new industries and jobs in California, improve industrial productivity and reduce control costs.

Here is what a previous ICAT contractor had to say:

"... when we proposed to ICAT to develop a technology that we had, we had proven the concept on a very small scale in the laboratories ... but we didn´t have the funding necessary to take the next step to build a prototype device. ICAT offered that possibility to us and they were willing to share those costs."

Mr. Charlie Carlisle
Manager of Research and Development
CHA Corporation

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If you have any questions or comments about the content of the ICAT web pages,
please contact Steve Church by email at schurch@arb.ca.gov or Seong Park by email at spark@arb.ca.gov.

Innovative Clean Air Technologies