In this member spotlight published in July 2021, the Whitewater University Innovation Center features Paul Eckert, Founder of Safepro Technologies.
What does the company do?
Safepro Technologies has designed an emergency evacuation system to save lives during dangerous events such as active shooters, fires, etc.
In a stressful dangerous situation, it is incredibly difficult for individuals to think clearly and make good decisions. The Soteria System is designed to think for individuals in real time. The emergency evacuation system is designed to save lives through:
Action – The Soteria System integrates with a shot detection system to determine the location of the threat, sound an alarm to alert occupants, and provide notification of the threat such as a gunshot to proper authorities.
Separation – The Soteria System provides visual cues through ceiling-mounted laser projection to guide individuals safely away from danger, separate the innocent from danger, reduce chaos, eliminate human judgment, and speed up evacuation. For those who cannot be guided safely away from the threat, the system facilitates immediate lockdown of rooms.
Response – The Soteria system provides visual cues to guide first responders towards the threat so that it can be neutralized as quickly as possible.
Safepro Technologies has designed and patented the Soteria System in August 2020. The prototype for demonstration is being installed in the Whitewater University Innovation Center and will be ready by early Fall 2021.
Safepro Technologies has designed the future exit sign. In an emergency event, the nearest Exit sign may not be the safest route. The patented Soteria System utilizes laser light projection to provide visual safety instructions for occupants of any building to follow, directing the occupants away from dangerous situations with simple to understand green arrows along with red X's to indicate do not enter, fight or barricade.
Who do you serve? Who is your target market?
The Safepro Technology Soteria system is the exit sign of the future. Their patented detection, shelter-in-place, and laser safety guidance system is the all-in-one solution to protecting and saving lives in dangerous events. The Soteria system focuses on the immediate need for helping innocent bystanders during any dangerous event, elevating the sign and security system industries.
The market for this product is nearly limitless. Any and every large facility, arena, church, school, warehouse, military installation, government building, hospital, stadium, office building, and hotel will benefit from integrated threat detection and evacuation system. Safepro Technology is positioned as the first of its kind to provide real-time laser evacuation guidance and instruction to building occupants. Our brand is focused on saving lives through immediate action, safe separation, and response.
Who is the Team?
Paul Eckert founded Safepro Technologies in 2017. Safepro Technologies is guided by Leigh Searl as a Legal and Operations advisor, Charles Laning as a Technology Advisor, Robert Austin as Director of Training, & Dana Pugh for photography and marketing.
What is the purpose of Safepro Technologies? How has the company evolved?
Paul Eckert previously had 21 years of experience in law enforcement and public safety. Throughout his career, Paul had been a part of several specialty units including search and recovery (Dive Team). Paul was also an instructor in the areas of Defense and Arrest Tactics, Civil Disturbance Control, and Active Shooter Response.
As an Active Shooter Response Instructor, Paul trained law enforcement, noticed gaps in the training, and identified areas for improvement. As an instructor, Paul interviewed countless law enforcement officers to gain insights on how the training could be improved. Regardless of how much training was provided, law enforcement officers are human, and making decisions under stress is always a challenge. Furthermore, it is incredibly difficult to know exactly where the threat is. When shots are fired indoors, the sounds bounce off the walls making the location hard to pinpoint.
Even though shot detection systems are in place, there is a decision-making gap between notification of the threat and response. The Soteria System is designed to fill the gap by thinking for individuals in real-time to guide the innocent to safety and guide law enforcement towards the threat to neutralize it as quickly as possible. The laser protection visual cues are intuitive and easy to understand. Green arrows point to safety, while red X’s mark the direction of the threat.
Safepro Technologies was founded in 2017 and joined the Whitewater University Innovation Center the following year in 2018. By January 2020, the first functional prototype was installed at the Whitewater University Innovation Center as a proof of concept. In August 2020, Safepro Technologies became patent approved by the US Patent Office. In September 2020, Safepro Technologies was accepted into Gener8tor’s Startup Accelerator. In 2021, Safepro began the development of software and API.
What motivated you to start your business?
Paul is on a mission to save lives. On average, a fatality occurs every 7 seconds in an active shooting event and the average response time for first responders is 4 to 11 minutes. The gap between notification and response makes it incredibly difficult for law enforcement officers with tactical training to be successful and save as many lives as possible. The Soteria System can help increase the odds of success by separating the innocent from danger and getting law enforcement to the threat faster.
Furthermore, as a father, he worried how his two children would think in a stressful situation like an active shooting event. Of course, he tried to prepare his children with essential safety lessons as they grew up. However, he would not be by their side to always keep them safe. Paul wondered, “If law officers with tactical training struggle to be successful, how will his children function in that stressful situation?”
Paul recognized the problem of active shooter events early on. Unfortunately, the problem has only grown in recent years and is not going to stop. With this challenge in mind, he developed a system to save lives and fight back against active shooters.
What is your favorite thing about your job and/or the company?
Paul’s favorite thing about his company is the “People he has met.” He has had the opportunity to work with great minds and individuals who genuinely care about human safety. He is passionate about helping people and now has the opportunity to help individuals throughout the United States and even across the globe.
What inspires you to keep going, pursuing your dream?
Paul feels safety is a basic need. This system needs to be out there. It is a simple application, but a much-needed application in schools and businesses to save lives. Mass shootings are not going to stop. If the Soteria System is in place, Safepro Technologies will save lives.
Why do you work out off an incubator? And more importantly, why the Whitewater University Innovation Center?
Paul was referred to the Whitewater University Innovation Center by Dennis Murano, a SCORE Mentor. Paul met with Mark Johnson, who believed in his product and was incredibly supportive. Paul joined the Innovation Center in 2018. Since joining, Safepro Technologies has benefited from coaching, student interns, networking, resources, and the facility itself.
Over the years, Paul has worked with Choton Basu for assistance with his new technology and product development as well as John DeGraff who shared his marketing expertise. Not only did John DeGraff provide marketing consulting, but also had multiple student teams work on a market research study for Paul. The students were excited to work with Safepro Technologies and were extremely interested in the system. The students shared that active shooter events are something that they think about every day and loved how Safepro Technologies is fighting back. Through the project, Paul met Alex Gaziano who later became a marketing intern for Safepro Technologies in Spring 2021.
One benefit of being part of the Innovation Center is the opportunity to network with individuals in the same space who are entrepreneurs, understand each other’s pain points, and work toward solutions together. Paul shared, “It makes it easy to find resources for the unknowns.”
The greatest benefit has been the facility itself and the ability to tap into the resources of the building. The initial version of Safepro Technologies is installed at the Innovation Center. The hallways have the laser projection connected to the software. The next step is to integrate the shot detection system into the Innovation Center and connect it with the alert system. After all, the Innovation Center was the perfect place to film the product video! In the future, Paul looks forward to hosting demonstrations & events.
Have you collaborated or partnered with other clients at the Innovation Center?
Paul met Kristina Koslosky, owner of Kreative Solutions, through the Innovation Center and collaborated on the website design.
What is your favorite Innovation Center memory?
Paul’s favorite Innovation Center memory is when he first installed the initial components of the system into the building and turned on the lights to see the laser projections of green arrows and red X’s on the wall. This was the first time the dream of saving lives felt truly real and attainable.
What was your company's latest and greatest achievement?
Safepro Technologies’ recent partnerships are the company’s latest and greatest achievement Safepro Technologies has entered into a partnerships with:
ASR, Alert Systems out of Florida for mass notifications.
Losant for the implementation of the enterprise system.
Trinity Sound Technologies to integrate their indoor gunshot detection & alarm.
Alert Protection Solutions (APS) for real-time threat reporting to first responders and facility staff.
Together, these companies will bring all these life-saving technologies together to make a full safety system pilot program. This pilot program will be installed at the Whitewater Innovation Center for a demonstration test site of the project.
What is your greatest need at this time?
Funding is Safepro Technologies greatest pain point at this time. The company is looking for a significant investment to manufacturer this system. They have an investor; however, they are always actively seeking additional investors and funding.