New Products Rollout adds public agency tour for 2025

New Products Rollout adds public agency tour for 2025

Tour doubles the product’s exposure to public agency officials

Entrants into ATSSA’s New Products Rollout (NPRO) now have an extra option for attracting attention to their latest ideas for improving roadway safety: the NPRO Tour.

NPRO participants at ATSSA’s 2025 Convention & Traffic Expo in Orlando, Fla., can choose to be part of the new NPRO Tour, which will bring public agency officials to their exhibit booth where they can highlight the unique features of their product.

That is in addition to competing for the annual Innovation Awards, which is chosen by a panel of judges made up of department of transportation (DOT) officials from across the country. This panel evaluates entries before selecting one award winner and up to three additional products for honorable mention.

The tour and judging means companies can get their products in front of two groups of public agency officials in addition to the more than 4,000 people expected to register for ATSSA’s 55^th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo, set for Feb. 28-March 4.

“The goal of the NPRO Tour is to raise awareness and visibility of market-ready roadway safety solutions that could save lives, foster collaboration between the private and public sectors, and encourage knowledge exchange,” said ATSSA Innovation & Technical Services Manager Nagham “Melodie” Matout who oversees NPRO.

Applications for the New Products Rollout are being accepted through Nov. 15. To qualify for the Innovation Awards competition, companies must submit an application for each product they wish to enter and sign up for the NPRO Tour. Each exhibiting company can submit up to two products for the competition. The first 15 products accepted into the NPRO Tour will have their product and informational video reviewed by the panel of judges for consideration of an award.

All entries must include an informational video with the application.

After the Innovation Awards winner and honorable mentions are chosen, they will receive additional exposure as the center of attention for an Innovation Awards Micro Session held March 4 on the Traffic Expo floor. This new feature for 2025 increases the visibility of the latest devices for roadway safety soon after they are recognized by a panel of judges.

Products are evaluated on criteria in four categories: providing an overall innovation for the roadway safety infrastructure industry, solving a current issue in the industry, unique safety qualities and the innovativeness and applicability of the design. To qualify, the product must have been introduced to the market after Jan. 1, 2023.

Examples of previously submitted NPRO entry videos are available online.

“NPRO provides an opportunity for members of our industry to showcase their extraordinary work at North America’s premier event for the roadway safety infrastructure industry,” Matout said. “Advancing roadway safety means continually looking for new and innovative ways to save lives of both the motoring public and roadway workers. We look forward each year to seeing the latest industry innovations.”

Applications for the New Products Rollout and NPRO Tour are due by Nov. 15.