A business accelerator for advancing the next generation of technology for policing, public safety and corrections.
Southern Middle Tennessee Entrepreneur Centers (SMTEC) is announcing a new business accelerator initiative entitled “JusticeXL™”. JusticeXL™ is a 12-week program accelerator cohort with a specific focus on three components of the justice system:
- Law enforcement
- Public safety
- Corrections
“It’s not ground-breaking news that law enforcement agencies around the nation are being faced with unyielding personnel and resource deficits while crime and public pressure continue to escalate,” says Dan Marcum, Executive Director of SMTEC. “Whether it’s a federal, state, or local agency, the goal is to safeguard the lives and property of each and every citizen.”
The mission of JusticeXL™ is to accelerate entrepreneurs and start-up companies in their process of developing tactics and strategies that are effective, efficient and economical, as measured by improved public safety, reduced crime, higher case closure rates, and transformational corrections systems.
Founded in 2011, SMTEC is one of nine accelerators in Tennessee’s statewide accelerator network. “Our goal is to help accelerate the transformation of ideas into investible companies and then help those companies raise money and develop their ideas into reality,” says Marcum. “New technologies and techniques are offering amazing opportunities in every industry. JusticeXL will help expedite the process of developing the systems and tools needed to enter the next generation of policing, public safety, and corrections, right here in Tennessee.
Mr. Jerry Wright will be the Program Manager of the inaugural JusticeXL™ cohort. Wright is a former Navy Chief, retired Chief of Police, an experienced entrepreneur, and currently a business consultant. Mrs. Karen Tackett, also an entrepreneur and consultant, will be the Program Administrator for the cohort.
“Significant discoveries are being made in areas such as wearable sensor technology, crime forecast technology, cloud storage, body-worn cameras, biometrics, etc.,” says Wright. If an entrepreneur has a technology or a concept to change industry paradigms, then an accelerator is an excellent way to speed-up the process of customer discovery, getting to market, and raising needed capital.
Several companies and start-up entrepreneurs have approached SMTEC in the past and encouraged the development of a business accelerator focused on new technologies and systems relating to first responders, public safety, and corrections.
“Our company relocated to Tennessee a few years ago and it would have been great if JusticeXL existed back when we moved,” says David Lutfy, President of Agisent, a Tullahoma-based company that provides advanced software for law enforcement and homeland security. “We could have avoided numerous pit falls and been able to get our software products to market much sooner.”
“Having this specially focused accelerator in Tennessee is a big factor in our decision to locate in Tennessee rather than California,” says Jamie Davenport, Founder and President of U. S. Military Converters, LLC, a startup focused on transforming greige into specially printed, treated, and instrumented material and then made into uniforms for military personnel and first responders. “We hope to be the first enrollee accepted into the inaugural cohort.”
The inaugural 12-week JusticeXL™ cohort is scheduled to begin September 8. The period for applying for the JusticeXL™ opens May 15. Applications will be reviewed and accepted on a competitive basis. Eight to 12 young and start-up companies will compete for a place in this inaugural cohort.
Contact: Dan J. Marcum, Executive Director, SMTEC
931.580.8076.cell