Joris Koops from Assen develops bicycle accident detection system
The final test phase and fine-tuning has begun for ByPoint in Assen. The world's first bicycle fall detection system that can sound the alarm in the event of a fall or accident without using a mobile phone. By the end of September and early October, it should be available at a number of bike shops. After that, things will probably go fast, or so is the expectation.
How the - then - Asser student Joris Koops (26) came up with an invention: “I came up with the device in 2019 because my grandmother was an active cyclist. She then recently had an electric bike and made further trips more often because of the convenience of the electric bike. At some point, there were more and more reports about the increase in unilateral bicycle accidents in the Netherlands. Subsequently, I began to wonder what would happen if my grandmother fell. She does have a mobile phone, but getting help herself after an accident is a completely different story. This was the start of the development process for a fall detection system especially for cyclists that works without a mobile phone or app.”
Speed and time are crucial
In 2019 and 2020, while studying entrepreneurship & retail management at Hanze University, Koops delved deeper into the subject and wrote a thesis about it. “I quickly found out that rapid alerting after a bicycle accident is very important for the further course of injuries.”
The sooner the patient is in hospital, the greater the chance of a successful procedure and the better the chance of rehabilitation afterwards. But due to the increase in cyclists, and especially because people are cycling faster, the number of accidents is increasing, to 50,000 per year in the Netherlands. Due to the higher speed, the injury is often heavier. So work to be done, Koops concluded.
Later in 2020, Koops will make the first trial models of the new bicycle fall detection system. With his idea, he wins the Rabo Entrepreneur Award. He leaves 79 students and entrepreneurs far behind.
Koops: “After graduating, I focused on my company full-time since 2021. Over the course of the year, I came into contact with the Boost-Up Foundation. An organization that brings together northern investors and has helped me develop a business plan. As a result, at the end of 2021, there was sufficient trust from the Foundation's investors, a group of investors from Assen and the province of Drenthe, to complete the funding so that we could continue to develop our existing prototypes.”
School friend hooks up
Meanwhile, friend and former schoolmate Andrew Grimminck (26) has also joined the company at Koops's request. “I was still studying when I put all the evening into the start-up. In a year, this system should be available in many bike shops,” he says with a laugh. With his knowledge of marketing and branding, Grimminck is convinced that he and Koops have developed a popular product.
The province is one of the lenders. Not only because they support the Asser invention, but also because the traffic department will soon be able to use the (anonymous) data that the fall detection system collects. “Now we only get figures from the police, but these are not all accidents and the exact location is often missing,” says traffic expert Foppe Koen of the province.
“With ByPoint data, we will soon know what age group the fallen cyclist is in, the exact location, whether they cycle often and what type of bike. On a granny bike, the speed is quickly at least 20 kilometers slower than an electric bike or a speed pedelec. The speed also often says something about the cause or impact of the fall or accident. And if data shows accidents happen in the same places over and over again, we know we should look at the traffic situation there.”
With ByPoint data, we will soon know what age group the fallen cyclist is in, the exact location.
Not developed yet
While the first version of the device isn't even in stores yet, further ideas are coming up during the presentation of the fall detection system: Connect the system to professional emergency workers or ambulances; develop a version for mobility scooters; measure how the fall occurred in the event of an accident or fall and link it to the ANWB or insurers. According to Koops and Grimminck, it's all possible, but in the near future, they will first roll out the first version of their product.
Martijn Kruisman from Boost-Up and Fund Manager Frits Kok will help the ambitious Joris with this. Because things can go fast from now on. Kruisman: “We are going to supervise Joris and Andrew in the coming months. Are sales going well, how is the company running, how fast and where is the product successful? But we are very convinced that this will catch on.”