The R2 Network Launches R2 Connect – an Event and Engagement Platform Connecting First Responders and Innovators
The R2 Network has launched a new event and engagement platform, R2 Connect, an online community for innovators and first responders to share, discover, and adopt best practices and new public safety technology. R2 Connect will offer members year-round access to virtual events along with networking and on-demand content. Membership is open to all first responders and supporting organizations, and there is no cost to join.
Public safety events will be the primary focus of R2 Connect, including webinars, fireside chats, roundtables, panel discussions, pitch competitions, and tech talks. In the near future, the R2 Network plans to scale R2 Connect to bring members together for in-person events.
In addition to attending events, R2 Connect is a place for public safety to engage with innovators and end-users through a series of features built to enable communication, networking, and technology discovery.
R2 Connect Feature Release Recap:
Event Info – Users can check out a list of industry events and register to attend with the click of a button.
Event Feed – See what other community members are saying about events with the live Community & Event Feed.
Chats – Connect and chat with event attendees, speakers, or sponsors with in-platform connection & messaging features.
Meetings – Meet and network with community members with a simple 1:1 meeting request.
Notifications – Stay up to date about upcoming events, new connections, and meeting requests with notifications send directly to your R2 Connect account.
On-Demand Content Hub –Members can check out the On-Demand Content hub to view recorded webinars, and interviews with industry experts or learn about the hundreds of R2 Partners that are creating cutting-edge solutions for public safety.
Interested public safety agencies, innovators, and entrepreneurs can join R2 Connect today by visiting: https://connect.r2network.com/login. Once members have joined, they can register for upcoming events, start networking with community members and explore the Content Hub. R2 Connect is available for free in app stores for both iOS & Android devices.
The R2 Network welcomes the FRST Community on the R2 Portal! In Partnership with the Indiana University Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab, Resultant, and NIST, the First Responder Smart Tracking (FRST) Community is a first-of-its-kind enablement platform on the R2 Portal. This new feature launched by the R2 Network, R2 Communities, directly connects innovators of first responder technology to end-users for enhanced collaboration. Congratulations to The FRST Community, the R2 Networks’ Inaugural Community.
The First Responder Smart Tracking Challenge (FRST) is a 5 phase competition created to identify 3D tracking technology that can give first responders one-meter accuracy in an indoor setting. The Challenge brings together leaders in technology, entrepreneurship, and public safety through the FRST Community to bring effective and practical 3D tracking solutions to the market.
Through the FRST Community, members of the challenge have access to a community of peers, mentors, and First Responders, available to all challenge participants upon signing up. The FRST Community includes a resource library, access to a curated list of R2 Network and FRST events, team building capabilities, forums to connect and engage with other challenge members, and direct submission capabilities for each phase of the challenge.
“By partnering with the R2 Network, the FRST Challenge is able to connect and create a community of innovative problem-solvers, first responders, mentors, and service providers centered around location-based tracking solutions. Success in this community is critical to protecting first responders and saving lives.” Haley Molchan, FRST Program Manager, IU Crisis Technologies Lab, FRST Challenge.
Interested in joining the challenge? Do you have a solution to help track First Responders indoors? Sign up today to join the FRST Challenge and submit your Phase 1 Application!
The R2 Portal 2.0 is now live with a series of new feature releases and key improvements. The upgraded platform includes community and funding resources to bridge critical first responder capability gaps through innovation and enhanced collaboration.
Funding for Innovators
The R2 Portal’s free funding resource gives Innovators a tool to find both dilutive and non-dilutive funding opportunities offered throughout our industry. On the Portal, users will find over 200 public safety-focused funding programs including, 40+ VCs, 32+ Accelerator Programs and Challenges, 25+ US-based Grants, and 90+ International Funding resources, with new funding initiatives being continuously added. Now, Innovators can find and apply to many of these opportunities with a single click directly on the R2 Portal.
The Community resource directly connects innovators of first responder technology to end-users for enhanced collaboration. In partnership with the R2 Network, users can now build their own custom community for challenges, programs, event series’, or simply to create a dedicated space for customers or public safety experts to connect and collaborate. With each custom community, users have access to all of the R2 Portal features as well as a wide variety of capabilities to build out their custom community platform. Congratulations to The FRST Community, the R2 Portals’ Inaugural Community.
Ensuring the R2 Portal offers our users an easy-to-use and streamlined experience is essential for our community. We’ve made a series of strategic improvements to help our users engage with the R2 Portal. This includes:
A New dashboard and navigation functionality
The ability to toggle between multiple communities
A streamlined account creation process
A Single-User Type for all Portal Members
Single Sign-On Authentication through Google, Linkedin, and Facebook
Stay tuned for our next three resources coming to the R2 Portal this Spring!
R2 Connect platform including an R2 Network app in partnership with JDC Events.
Funding for Public Safety Agencies in partnership with Dynamic International and OpenGrants.
Funding for Innovators, The R2 Network’s first new feature release of 2022 is now available on the R2 Portal. This free resource is the fifth free resource created for users on the R2 Portal since its inception in 2021. While previous resources have focused heavily on technology solutions, this resource helps innovators source-critical funding sources to help develop, scale, and launch their solutions.
On the Portal, users will find over 200 public safety-focused funding programs including 40+ VCs, 32+ Accelerator Programs and Challenges, 25+ US-based Grants, and 90+ International Funding resources, with new funding opportunities being continuously added. Now, Innovators can find and apply to many of these opportunities with a single click directly on the R2 Portal.
Finding, applying for, and securing funding to help develop and deploy their solutions is a critical challenge Innovators in the Public Safety Community face key. The R2 Portal’s funding resource is designed to help Innovators find key funding initiatives offered throughout our industry in one convenient location. “Funding, investment, and grant opportunities for Innovators in the Public Safety Space are critical to helping develop life-saving technologies and bringing those technologies to end-users. We are excited to see a resource on the R2 Portal where entrepreneurs can find those critical funding opportunities, “ Jacob Johnson, Laerdal Million Lives Fund.
This resource is one of the first of the year that the R2 Network will launch to help the Public Safety community obtain critical funding opportunities. Stay tuned for more on our next resource, Funding for Public Safety Agencies. In the meantime, Innovators can start searching for funding sources on the R2 Portal today!
Launched in 2021, the R2 Network is a government-backed platform to help innovators of public safety technology connect directly with first responders and industry leaders. With a growing network of resources designed to fill critical gaps between entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and the public safety community, The R2 Network is wrapping up its first year with a nearly fully built live online platform, the R2 Portal.
In year 1, the R2 Network transformed from an ambitious idea to a real solution for the public safety community. Today, the R2 Network is a living, growing resource that brings together Entrepreneurs, First Responders, and Stakeholders through one unified mission; enabling response and resiliency innovation. We’re extremely appreciative of the support and guidance the public safety community provided for Year 1 of the R2 Network. To date, the R2 Network has launched 7 resources that are currently available for users; The R2 Portal, The Product Builder, R2 Learn, The Public Safety Event Finder, The Stakeholder View, and Innovation HQ, and the FRST Portal.
In Year 2, our primary focus for the R2 Network will be engagement. We will work alongside the innovative and end-user communities to promote and refine R2 resources, identify additional areas we can support, and grow the overall community. In Year 2 of the R2 Network, we will bridge the gap between innovators and end-users of response and resilience technology.
To help with our engagement efforts, we will continue to build and launch additional features on the R2 Portal including; Funding HQ, The Grant Portal, The Community Resource, Micro R2 Community Sites, Events, and Custom R2 Learn Content.
Thank you to our early adopters and supporters of the R2 Network. We look forward to building upon our mission and all that’s to come in 2022.
Backed by a grant from the US Department of Commerce, Innovation HQ is a resource provided by the R2 Network to help end-users find and follow response and resiliency solutions.
Launched in 2021, the R2 Portal is built by the R2 Network to provide an online home to help innovators of public safety technology connect directly with first responders and industry leaders. With a growing network of 100’s of products from around the globe, Innovation HQ is the fourth and largest feature launch of the R2 Portal. First responders now have a new home to find the best tools and technology available to help solve critical capability gaps.
In the process of building the Network, feedback was sought from the end-user community about the most pressing challenges faced with new technology adoption. Chief among the concerns was the ability to stay ahead of the ever-changing technology curve and how to find the right solutions to meet their specific agency needs. As a simple and streamlined way to find new technology solutions, Innovation HQ makes finding new technology easy and accessible.
Designed with ease of use in mind, users have three methods by which they can find solutions. To explore what’s available, users can scroll through 100’s of hard-to-find solutions or browse through nearly 50 categories that address the top needs and trends facing public safety agencies. For specific needs, users can search by keyword query using the search bar. Users will find categories such as Cybersecurity, COVID-19, Drone/UAS, and Location Tracking with curated products that address that specific capability gap. First Responders looking for a specific product for 911 can leverage these category pages to streamline their search. By clicking on a category such as 911/PSAP, every 911/PSAP related product on Innovation HQ will populate onto its own page giving users a quick and easy way to browse solutions that fit their exact needs.
Follow your Favorite Products to Stay Informed
Make informed technology decisions for your public safety agency with the R2 Network’s new follow and compare features on Innovation HQ. While browsing through solutions, follow products of interest to stay up to date on developments and new offerings then perform side-by-side comparisons custom built to inform public safety end users on your customized “Followed Products” page. Also available on your Followed Products page is the Product Feed, where first responders can learn about new products and features at a glance while entrepreneurs can share updates about their products, partnerships and opportunities with the R2 community. In addition to that, users will receive customized technology recommendations on the Followed Products page based on their specific interests.
“New Hampshire’s adoption of the Firstnet Network has opened up new avenues of technology adoption like our partnership with Mutualink” John Stevens, Statewide Interoperability Coordinator, New Hampshire Department of Safety. “Innovation HQ on the R2 Portal will allow us to continue to be detailed and thorough in our exploration of new and innovative technologies enabled by the growing Firstnet ecosystem.”
A Unique Opportunity for Entrepreneurs
Innovation HQ gives Entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to share their solution with a growing community of First Responders while simultaneously involving them in the development and deployment of a solution. “At Squishy Robotics, first responder input has been critical at each stage of our development process” says Deniz Droguer, COO Co-Founder of Squishy Robotics. “A tool that enables us to scale that first responder involvement both for the development and deployment of our solution in the future will be invaluable moving forward.”
Streamline Technology Adoption in Your Agency These features were created to make staying up to date on public safety technology easy for your agency. Take a tour through all of the features available on the R2 Portal in our brand new video where you’ll learn about each of the resources built to support first responders and entrepreneurs, including our latest resource Innovation HQ:
Innovation HQ is now available to all members of our free-to-join R2 Portal. Start browsing public safety technology products and help streamline your agency’s processes, improve security and fast track technology adoption today.
As we move into the last half of 2021 after a busy six months officially launching the R2 Network and subsequent Product Builder, R2 Learn, and Public Safety Event Finder feature releases, we have much to look forward to.
Thus far, the R2 Portal has primarily served entrepreneurs building life-saving technologies and first responders who provide life-saving service to the community. This month we’re very excited to welcome a brand new audience to the R2 Portal; federal government agencies and their supporting industries, including the following:
Federal Government (U.S. & International)
Associations
Corporations
Service Providers & Vendors
Distributors
GovCon
R2 Portal Stakeholder Dashboard
Stakeholders – The Backbone of the Public Safety Industry
This new user group can be summarized as ‘Stakeholders’ – the backbone of the public safety industry who play a vital role in the innovation ecosystem. As integral creators of public safety content, Stakeholders on the R2 Portal will enjoy admin-like abilities to contribute the following to our community:
Add Products – Using the Product Builder, Stakeholders can add their own or partner public safety innovation products that will help end-users on the R2 Network identify their solutions and understand fit.
Add Events – Through the Public Safety Event Finder (powered by GovEvents), Stakeholders can add in-person, virtual and on-demand events to engage with the public safety community about what’s new in response and resiliency technology.
Add Content – Stakeholders can create new courses on R2 Learn to educate Entrepreneurs and First Responders on the unique challenges and opportunities in the public safety market.
Add Innovation Programs – Stakeholders can add their organizations’ innovation programs and challenges designed to help promote and support the growth of public safety innovation, plus, recruit participants.
We welcome all federal government and supporting industries to sign up now and begin sharing content with the R2 Portal’s public safety community! Be sure to stay tuned for continued feature releases to improve stakeholder functions through 2022.
Upcoming Releases: Product Finder, Grant Portal, and Innovation Programs
Our upcoming releases will provide vital resources to our First Responder, Entrepreneur, and new Stakeholder members, making innovative products more accessible, and helping tech innovators and agencies find available grants and innovation programs to fuel progress. Here’s a look at what’s to come in the next few months:
August: Product Finder Feature Release – First responders and public safety agencies will have the ability to identify the technology solutions their agency needs to address response and resiliency challenges.
September: Grant Finder Tool Feature Release – Public safety agencies will be able to use the Grant Portal to identify grants they qualify for to procure needed technology and resources. Entrepreneurs will have the ability to find funding to support the development of their technology products.
October:Innovation Programs Feature Release – Stakeholders can add programs and challenges designed to help promote and support the growth of public safety innovation opportunities and recruit participants, while innovators will be able to apply in just a few clicks!
Virtual & In-Person Engagements with the R2 Network
This past month our team held webinars with our RapidSOS partners pertinent to entrepreneurs navigating the public safety startup landscape. If you didn’t get a chance to attend (or you’d like to refresh what you learned), the webinars are now available on-demand on R2 Learn:
On-Demand Webinar: What You Need to Know About Fundraising for Public Safety Tech Learn how to navigate the unique challenges of fundraising for public safety technology companies from Michael Martin, who successfully raised over $200M for RapidSOS and Bryce Stirton, President of the VC firm Responder Corp, who has led investments into numerous public safety companies:
On-Demand Webinar: What Public Safety Startups Should Know About 911 Karin Marquez, Senior Director of Public Safety and Jamison Peevyhouse, Director of Public Safety from RapidSOS shared insights into top of mind issues for 911 directors, major pain points 911 agencies face, and what startups should know about serving 911 agencies.
The R2 Network and partners are looking forward to safely attending in-person events again! We hope to see you at our presentations in the following upcoming events:
NENA 2021 Conference and Expo – Columbus, OH, July 24-29, 2021 Panel Discussion: Wednesday Jul 28th, 8:45am – 9:45am ET Title: “Building Resilience: Disaster Response in 2021 and Beyond”
Host:
Dave Sehnert – Director of Strategy and Partnerships | NG911, RapidSOS Panelists:
Bryce Stirton – President, Responder Corp
Michael Martin – CEO, RapidSOS
Karin Marquez – ENP, CMCP, – Senior Director of Public Safety, RapidSOS Description: This session will share how a national, self-sustaining response and resiliency network can support innovators in the public safety space. Public safety leaders, fire chiefs, emergency technology experts, and top entrepreneurs will share their experience and challenges developing next generation technologies that empower first responders with the tools and technologies they need to stay safe and protect our communities, especially during unprecedented times. Attendees will learn about the need for a stronger response and resiliency network, how they can connect with other like minded innovators across the public safety space to solve existing challenges, and what they can do to prepare for large scale events in 2021 and beyond. Learn more >
APCO 2021 – San Antonio, TX, August 15-18, 2021 Panel Discussion: Wednesday, August 18th 2021, 10:00am – 11:00am Title: “R2: Empowering First Responders and ECCs with Technology to Improve Public Safety” Location: Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 225AB Main Presenters: Bill Schrier – Senior Advisor, FirstNet Authority Karin Marquez, ENP, CMCP, – Senior Director of Public Safety, RapidSOS Michael Martin – CEO, RapidSOS Description: This partnership between public safety, entrepreneurs, and investors is a new and unique way to encourage small companies to improve and develop first responder technologies and pilot them with public safety agencies. Over 70 companies are already involved. You’ll hear about the initiative, what it is developing, how it will benefit your ECC, and how to get involved. Learn more >
IWCE 2021 – Las Vegas, NV, September 27-30, 2021 Session: Wednesday, September 29th 2021, 4:30pm – 5:45pm Title: “Building Resilience: Disaster Response in 2021 and Beyond” Main Presenters: David Blankinship – Senior Technology Advisor, Western Fire Chiefs Association Tyrell Morris – Executive Director, OPCD Michael Martin – CEO & Co-Founder, RapidSOS Bryce Stirton – President, Responder Corp Karlin Younger – Investment Lead, First Responder Network Authority
Description: Discover how a national, self-sustaining response and resiliency network can support innovators in the public safety space, with public safety leaders, fire chiefs, emergency technology experts, and top entrepreneurs sharing challenges in developing next-generation technologies that empower first responders. Attendees will also learn how to connect with like-minded public safety innovators to solve existing challenges, and prepare for large-scale events in 2021 and beyond. Learn more >
Help Build The R2 Network
We are thankful to our R2 Network community and hope you’ll join us in looking forward to upcoming feature releases, events, and welcoming our brand new audience of federal government and supporting industries to the R2 Portal. Make sure you’ve signed up for your free membership to share your own public safety content and help build our response and resiliency network today!
The R2 Network Releases Public Safety Event Finder – Powered by GovEvents
The new events feature and partnership with GovEvents provides R2 Portal members access to hundreds of relevant public safety events while allowing users to add and share new events to both websites.
New York, NY | June 30, 2021 – Nationwide public safety platform the R2 Network has released its latest feature rollout – The Public Safety Event Finder, in partnership with GovEvents. For over 10 years, GovEvents has served the government community as a central hub to find and post government and military events online. The new partnership provides R2 Portal users with instant access to upcoming relevant public safety events all in one place. The Public Safety Event Finder will include virtual and on-demand events as well as in-person events as public health guidance allows.
The Public Safety Event Finder is the third feature release since the R2 Network’s official launch in March 2021
The Product Builder release in April allows innovators and entrepreneurs to showcase life-saving technology products on the R2 Portal
May’s release of R2 Learn provides users with access to free public safety courses, podcasts, videos, articles & more
Find Events on Public Safety, Fire & Rescue, First Responders, Law Enforcement & More R2 Portal members can now browse hundreds of upcoming events on topics including public safety, fire & rescue, first responders, and law enforcement for free. The GovEvents-powered events feed will continuously add new public safety events to the R2 Portal as they become available, providing real-time access to the latest upcoming events. Add New Public Safety Events Members promoting or attending events of interest not already found on the R2 Portal will have the opportunity to add new events for free, helping increase their events’ exposure and boost attendance.
“The ambitious plan for the R2 Network will require participation and support throughout the industry from leaders like GovEvents,” said Bryce Stirton, President of Responder Corp. “We’re very appreciative of the opportunity to work with the GovEvents team and platform to provide an events resource that will deliver great value to the R2 community for years to come.”
“Our partnership with the R2 Network is an exciting new chapter for GovEvents,” said Kerry Rea, President of GovEvents. “Sharing our public safety events with the R2 Network advances our goal of making government events, best practices and emerging technologies easily accessible to members of the community.”
Join to Access Free Public Safety Resources The R2 Network and GovEvents look forward to their newly formed partnership and learning how members of the R2 Portal utilize and contribute to the new self-sustaining Event Finder feature. Create a free R2 Portal membership to browse and add public safety events, content, and technology products, and stay tuned as the R2 Network continues new feature rollouts as outlined below for the remainder of 2021:
About the R2 Network
The R2 Network, a challenge put forth by the Department of Commerce and FirstNet Authority, is a free-to-use, self-sustaining public innovation platform backed by a $2mm federal grant. Created out of a need to face the nation’s most pressing Response and Resiliency challenges, the R2 network will deliver resources, tools and opportunities to entrepreneurs and first responders to commercialize and deploy new technology. About GovEvents
GovEvents is a free-to-use web portal for government-related events worldwide providing information on thousands of events, from major industry tradeshows, to government conferences, to agency-sponsored roundtables, and virtual events. Members include personnel from every federal agency, military branch, state and local government covering all 50 states, and supporting industries including government vendors, contractors and event organizers.
Your New Learning Hub for Public Safety Resources & Content is Live!
With over 850 innovative companies and more than 1270 public safety agencies from all over the U.S. on the R2 Portal since our official launch, the need for a free public safety network supporting Response and Resiliency (R2) challenges has been clearly validated. In support of our mission to provide empowering resources for innovators and first responders, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of R2 Learn – a brand new hub for educational content related to life-saving innovation in Public Safety!
Your Home for Public Safety Knowledge Members of our free-to-use R2 Portal can now check out R2 Learn, the industry’s newest resource for educational material on all things public safety and innovation. Browse multiple content formats including podcasts, videos, articles, with courses featuring topics such as EMS, 911 & Emergency Communications, Fire, Response, Resilience, Technology Adoption and much more.
While browsing through content, you will also have the ability to customize your educational experience by creating a curated “Library” exclusive to your account. By simply saving individual courses to your Library, you’re ensuring all your favorite content is stored in one easy to find location! Browse and save your favorite R2 Learn content by following the link below:
Share Life-Saving Knowledge With Our Community Not only can you browse and save the latest content relevant to public safety innovation in your Library, you can also post your own podcasts, articles, videos and more by creating new courses on R2 Learn for free.
Adding courses on R2 Learn has the added benefit of expanding the reach of first responder and tech innovator insights with our public safety community. Want to share your latest podcast? Have some industry insights you would like to share with your fellow innovators? Get started now and create your R2 Learn course here:
We’re Just Getting Started We can’t wait to see what our members contribute to R2 Learn in the coming days to help expand our public safety knowledge hub. In the meantime, here are just a few of the courses currently available on R2 Learn. Check them out:
“Public Safety First” with FirstNet – Join Dave Buchanan, host of the “Public Safety First” podcast, to discuss the future of emergency communications and FirstNet, and to hear from first responders about how FirstNet is impacting every-day and emergency operations through improvements to coverage, capacity, applications, devices, and security.
“Smart Firefighting” – Smart Firefighting is a podcast covering technologists, innovators, companies, and forward-thinking public safety agencies with real world deployments of smart technologies. Learn from interviews with leaders in public safety, government, industry, cyber-physical systems, and more.
“On Scene First with Tracy Eldridge” – a podcast series ‘bringing entertaining, educational, and empowering interviews with public safety difference-makers to discuss new technology, out-of-the-box thinking, and mental health resources to save lives on both sides of the call.’
Access & Share Public Safety Knowledge Today Join us today and create your free profile on the R2 Portal to take advantage of all the new resources available on R2 Learn. We look forward to seeing you on the Portal!
New York, NY | March 30, 2021 – Today, The R2 Network announced the launch of a platform that aims to provide features and resources to empower innovators and first responders in their day-to-day operations. New features will be rolled out monthly throughout 2021 and will facilitate access to life-saving technology as well as connect nationwide stakeholders with opportunities to innovate and network.
This rollout comes after almost a year of development of the R2 Network platform. In 2020, the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the FirstNet Authority funded theAccelerate R2 Network Challenge Grant. Four companies were awarded the grant:RapidSOS, Responder Corp, Orleans Parish Communication District, and Western Fire Chiefs Association. Together, with the State of New Hampshire, these partners built a nationwide platform thatbrings stakeholders together for a common goal: to support innovators and agencies inempowering first responders with the tools and technologies they need to stay safe and protectour communities.
The free, self-sustaining network provides resources to enable and connect innovators with public safety industry leaders and opportunities. The remainder of 2021 will highlight the launch of key features and resources, bringing to life each of the three Network pillars: R2 Portal, R2 Learn, and R2 Connect.
“Engagement during our pre-launch stage validated the importance and need of the R2 Network for the public safety community,” said Bryce Stirton, President of Responder Corp. “Today we begin delivering resources with the launch of product features that willbring public safety into the future by connecting the industry and ensuring access to mission-critical technology.”
Starting in April, users will have access to monthly feature releases, which support the network by making it easier to share new life-saving technology, identify innovation opportunities, and connect with key stakeholders in public safety through events, grants and challenges.
Feature rollouts will include:
Product Builder: An opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their solutions; highlight end-user testimonials; and identify matches with first responders that are looking for innovative technologies. Agencies will be empowered to find, share and engage with new life-saving technologies to fill critical gaps in their department.
Event Resource: A one-stop-shop to find public safety industry events both large and small, whether in-person or online. Users will be able to see who from the Network is attending, engage with others about the value of each event and identify lead opportunities.
Grant Finder: A resource for entrepreneurs and agencies to find non-diluted funding opportunities best suited for their organization.
R2 Learn: Resources to educate entrepreneurs and public safety departments on the unique challenges and opportunities of the public safety industry. Technologists and agencies alike will be able to locate valuable educational resources and tools to learn how to better innovate and deploy these critical technologies in the field.
“Our nation’s public safety community did extraordinary work managing an unprecedented year for emergency response. We are excited to launch new features as part of the R2 Network to help entrepreneurs develop solutions that will enhance our nation’s emergency response systems.” said Michael Martin, RapidSOS’s CEO.
Chief Jeff Johnson, CEO at Western Fire Chiefs Association said, “Technology has changed public safety, but it’s not always seen as something that makes us better. The R2 network will tie innovators and first responders together to help everyone make smart decisions about what makes public safety more efficient and effective.”
“The team at OPCD is proud to be working with RapidSOS, Responder Corp, and the Western Fire Chiefs Association to help develop the R2 Network,” stated OPCD Executive Director, Tyrell Morris. “As we all know, communication and the sharing of resources has been a major factor in our efforts to combat the pandemic. The R2 Network stands as a testament to that concept, as public safety organizations and first responders will now have quick and easy access to information designed specifically to create opportunities for learning, growth and entrepreneurship.”
Interested public safety agencies and entrepreneurs can sign up at portal.r2network.com. Stay up to date with all of the upcoming announcements and features by joining the newsletter here.
About RapidSOS In partnership with public safety, RapidSOS has created the world’s first emergency response data platform that securely links life-saving data from 350M+ connected devices directly to 911 and first responders. Through the platform, RapidSOS provides intelligent data that supports over 4,800 Emergency Communications Centers, protecting 90%+ of people in the US, across 250 million emergencies annually. Together with innovative companies certified as RapidSOS Ready, RapidSOS is supporting the nation’s heroic first responders in saving millions of lives annually. To learn more about our technology that’s protecting lives, visit www.rapidsos.com.
About Responder Corp Responder Corp supports innovation in public safety through investment and accelerator programs. At Responder Ventures we invest in life-saving technology. At Responder Labs we partner with corporations and government agencies to deliver accelerator programs. We help build technology emergency responders and frontline workers need to keep themselves, and our communities, safe. Learn more at www.respondercorp.com
About Orleans Parish Communication District Formed in 1982, the Orleans Parish Communication District is the PSAP for all emergency communications via 9-1-1, and non-emergency communications via 3-1-1, within Orleans Parish. The agency employs 180 individuals and provides emergency medical dispatch, emergency fire dispatch, and emergency police dispatch for the millions of annual visitors and residents of the City of New Orleans. OPCD is a member of the Association of Public Safety Communication Officials (APCO) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).
The Mission of OPCD is to get the Right People to the Right Place at the Right Time, Better than Anybody Else in the World. (www.OPCDLA.gov)
About the Western Fire Chiefs Association The Western Fire Chiefs Association serves as a representative for leaders of fire-related emergency service organizations throughout the WFCA member states and the Western Pacific Islands. WFCA develops and supports those leaders in order that they may best provide for the protection of people and the environment from the occurrence and outcomes of fires and other natural, technological and human-behavior-caused emergencies. Find out more about WFCA at wfca.com
About New Hampshire Department of Safety
Public Safety interoperability advances that have taken place in New Hampshire over the past several years have provided a communications platform for next generation connectivity. FirstNet deployment in New Hampshire has created a partnership of immense collaboration as it continues to expand statewide. Interoperability expansion that is in existence today, makes New Hampshire and its Public Safety partners the most interoperable State in America. (www.nh.gov/safety/)
