Last but certainly not least, in the Geovation Scotland meet the founder series, we have EmergencyLocate.

EmergencyLocate is revolutionising rescue services, with their cutting-edge SAAS platform designed for emergency service operators. EmergencyLocate allows rescue operators to find those in need with pinpoint accuracy, without any words or verbal communication. This software is life-changing when it comes to emergency situations, where the environment (noisy, for example road-side or in a club), health (asthma attack, stroke) or the safety of the individual (domestic violence, siege) is compromising their ability to speak and direct emergency services towards them.  

We spoke to Founder, Nick Sutton, who has 20+ years of experience working in emergency services about how he came up with the idea of emergency locate and the plans for the future.  

Can you give us a brief overview of EmergencyLocate and where the initially idea came from?

EmergencyLocate is designed to support emergency, search and rescue organisations to rapidly and accurately identify the location of people in need of assistance. How quickly help can be made available in an emergency situation is dependent on a huge number of factors, the most critical of those factors is location, and that the location can be clearly communicated to the responding organisation.

Following a 20+ year career in the ambulance service, initially in England and later in Scotland, I’ve been frustrated that the same location issues occur now, in the same way they did at the start of my career, and I set out to do something about it!

EmergencyLocate is a cloud-based software solution that is optimised for use by emergency, search and rescue services to help save lives by overcoming the obstacles that can prevent an efficient emergency response.

Tell us more about the team at EmergencyLocate?

My name is Nick Sutton, I’m the Founder of EmergencyLocate and have grown the product, and platform, but not yet started to grow my team. I am currently still employed by the Scottish Ambulance Service where I work within the Services’ National Risk and Resilience Department as part of a small team of Strategic Operations Managers. We maintain a high-level overview of service activity and proactively firefight any issues that have the potential to impact service delivery and patient care. I am also a volunteer responder for Moffat Mountain Rescue Team.

I feel privileged to be in a position to develop a solution such as EmergencyLocate, but I have recognised that this is something bigger than myself and so I am now looking to build a team to help me scale the business and fully realise my vision.

What makes you excited about the problem EmergencyLocate is solving?

EmergencyLocate helps to save lives every single day! There is no greater reward than knowing my solutions have meant a person got the care they needed, particularly when the alternative may be tragic or life-altering.

I’m excited to provide solutions that lean heavily on my experiences within the sector and can be designed in ways that I know can be used to make a real difference.

EmergencyLocate retrieves location information digitally, meaning there is no requirement for the person needing help to be able to speak, at all!

Having such a capability is critical because there are many circumstances in an emergency, clear communication cannot be guaranteed. For example:

• Medical compromises such as a severe asthma attack, onset of stroke symptoms, allergic reaction, poisoning or intoxication.
• Safety; EmergencyLocate has been successfully utilised to identify location information in domestic violence incidents, where it is unsafe for a victim to be overheard making an emergency call, right through to armed siege situations and active shooters.
• Environmental variables; Anything from an industrial workplace to a nightclub will present problems in being able to clearly communicate during an emergency call.

What are EmergencyLocate’s goals during the accelerator programme?

The Geovation Scotland Accelerator will help me to take steps in the right direction of beginning to ‘let go’ of some of the key parts of operating the business and build a team that can take forward my vision for EmergencyLocate.

We will also refine our product with the expert technical support available to ensure our processes are as efficient as possible and that EmergencyLocate implements the best location datasets available to help direct emergency responders to remote incidents.

What does it mean to be part of the Scottish Tech Ecosystem / Geovation Community?

The Geovation accelerator is my first venture into tech / start-up communities, and I’m blown away by the support available. There is a real drive to innovate in a supportive environment with access to experts in their field that I’m sure you would pay a fortune for privately!

It is thoroughly refreshing to work in such an inclusive and open space that puts innovation at the forefront and fosters creative thinking whilst driving progress, applying to the Geovation Scotland accelerator might be the best business decision I’ve made so far!

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Keep up to date with EmergencyLocate via their website, LinkedIn or Twitter (X).