A Canterbury company has created an intelligent first aid cabinet for the workplace that can instantly detect when items need replacing. And if you think that sounds impressive, just wait until you hear about the company’s massive global potential.
Peter Montgomery, Clever First Aid’s CEO and co-founder, is no stranger to ground-breaking ideas.
He’d previously invented robotic technology that could 'vacuum moor' cargo ships, and his company was later listed on the NZX. A decade ago, while searching for his next tech venture, Peter had a chance conversation with his Clever First Aid co-founder, Peter Gillman.
“He mentioned a workplace accident where somebody was hurt, and when they went to the first aid kit, there was nothing in it.”
The two Peters started researching innovation in the first aid space – and quickly identified an enticing gap in the global market.
Over the next few years, Clever First Aid developed the world's only first-aid cabinet that’s connected to the Cloud. Using electronic sensors, the cabinets detect when items are removed and then send automatic notifications to restock the supplies.
“Before this, no-one in the world had ever measured what was happening with first aid cabinets,” says Peter.
“Your cabinet might be fully stocked one day, but the next day it could be completely empty and you wouldn’t know.”
As well as massively streamlining the customer’s H&S management, it can even have life-saving implications.
“One of our clients had quite a serious incident in their workplace,” explains Peter.
“Because they got notified by Clever First Aid, the managers were able to respond to the situation far quicker than they normally would. Which is especially important for businesses that operate 24/7.”
Clever First Aid is now in 5 countries, with a focus on Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
Not surprisingly for such a groundbreaking offering, the IP journey has been quite the adventure.
“No-one in the world had done this before, so there wasn’t a playbook to follow,” says Peter.
There have been times when we’ve filed provisional patents, and then out-invented ourselves.
In addition to the hardware, Clever First Aid has developed its own sizeable Cloud system that’s capable of tracking the status of tens of thousands of first aid products in real time across different geographies.
The cabinet is owned by Clever First Aid, while the customer subscribes to the software monitoring service and replenishing of supplies. All activity notifications are delivered through the Clever First Aid app.
Initially launched in 2013, Clever First Aid has come a long way from its original idea. It’s evolved into a sophisticated network of first aid devices – encompassing cabinets, defibrillators, eye-wash stations and mobile first aid kits that are integrated with leading health & safety management systems.
“Our vision is to create a smart ecosystem of first aid products that are fully connected and monitorable, and that in turn, give clients insights into their H&S performance and compliance across their business,” explains Peter.
“We’re unlocking a capability that hasn’t existed in this market before, by giving companies the ability to manage first aid themselves, really efficiently and simply.”
Clever First Aid customers are able to review and download incident reports that summarize injury rates across all their locations, which helps them make data-driven improvements. For example, one client has 200+ locations and records up to 70,000 first aid incidents annually, which are automatically categorized by Clever First Aid’s software into low, medium and high-severity cases.
Peter has worked with Anton Blijlevens from AJ Park for over 25 years, dating back to the Mooring Systems Limited days. He credits Anton for helping them skillfully navigate an IP landscape that was crowded with various measuring technologies.
“Over time we’ve been able to take a couple of key patents and evolve them to the point where they’ve met our strategic objectives,” says Peter.
“And given the complex nature of our business, that’s not an easy thing to do. You need highly competent IP advisers.”
For this Kiwi company with big ambitions, America represents an exciting market.
“We’ve carefully directed our efforts to securing IP rights in North America. And although that’s a long game, there have also been times when we’ve had to move really fast, for strategic reasons, and AJ Park have been super-responsive.”
As for the future, the potential size of the global market is staggering.
“We’re probably talking about 70 to 100 million first aid cabinets in the world, and perhaps another 15 million AEDs. And the other big market is the billion or so smaller kits for vehicles.”
A decade after that chance conversation, Clever First Aid has carved out a world-first solution that would be difficult for would-be imitators to replicate.
“Both commercially and technically, it’s been incredibly challenging to accomplish what we’ve achieved,” says Peter.
“But it’s a global mission worth pursuing. We’re passionate about helping our customers create safer workplaces for their teams. And AJ Park has been a crucial partner in our endeavors.”
Written by Libby Schultz
