Our mission:
To save lives and livelihoodsWho we are
We are a SpinOut company from Loughborough University specialising in modelling flooding in real-time, using the latest weather predictions to make street-level flood nowcasts and forecasts. Our mission is to be the leading global provider of cutting-edge flood prediction that saves lives and livelihoods. This requires continuous innovation through harnessing the leading information sources and technological developments to maximise the prediction’s quality and its impact on those affected by flooding.
What we do
Our FloodMap Live produces round the clock street-level flood risk predictions and analytics. Uniquely, these are continuously modelled and updated using a combination of different weather forecasts. This allows us to map the likelihood of short and long-term surface water events in real-time to the street level.
Team
We are a diverse, passionate and highly skilled team with strong business acumen and research expertise.
Jonathan Jackson M.B.A: Chief Executive Officer
Jonathan has an impressive record in commercialisation having built 3 SME businesses to valuations totalling £40m in the Technology and Telecoms sector, including launching the UK’s longest running B2B internet business. Experienced in SaaS, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence across various industry sectors including consumer goods manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality and finance. To drive growth, Jonathan has raised over £12m of investment and loans from private equity, venture capitalists, banks and government funding. Jonathan holds an MBA (Hons) from Northeastern University, Boston, USA.
Dr Dapeng Yu: Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Dapeng is a Senior Lecturer in geography at Loughborough University and has been responsible for generating the IP on which Previsico is based. He has over 17 years’ experience in flood modelling, flood risk management, and geographical information science. He is the author of the widely used FloodMap modelling software and the inventor of FloodMap Live system. He is an Associate Editor and editorial board member of two Springer journals, a visiting professor at East China Normal University, and sits on EPSRC’s Associate Peer-Review College since 2016.
Dr Avinoam Baruch: Chief Operating Officer
Avinoam studied MSci in Geography at Durham University before progressing to a PhD at Loughborough University under Dr Dapeng Yu’s supervision. His PhD focussed on the use of crowdsourcing for flood risk management.’ Avinoam has worked together with Dapeng, using on both modelling projects and commercialisation in a wide range of contexts. This involved successfully driven commercial engagement with multiple decision makers. Avinoam also has significant experience in the humanitarian sector having worked for a wide range of NGOs.
Dr William Johnson: Head of Technical Systems
William brings strong software skills covering architecture, design, programming and web technology. He has worked in collaborative and knowledge-based groups within both commercial and academic environments. He has agile and waterfall project management experience. His research has included the organisation of an innovative and agile work group, collaboration methods and tools, diagnostic frameworks for ontology-based knowledge systems, the modelling of complex systems and the impact of surface water flooding on emergency response times.
Prof. Rob Wilby: Special Advisor
Rob is a world leading academic in climate and water research. He pioneered downscaling technologies and co-developed the Statistical DownScaling Model (SDSM). This freely available climate scenario tool has underpinned many climate change impact assessments including for water supplies, flood risk (fluvial and tidal surge), air quality and urban heat island intensity in a wide range of cities. Ongoing projects include seasonal river flow forecasting, modelling urban water and sanitation hazards, and development of climate change allowances for detailed flood engineering design. Rob has spent time in the water industry, government, and consultancy giving him a very practical and pragmatic approach to this work. He has worked extensively in Central and South Asia, North America, North Africa and the Middle East.
Dr Mark Bennett: Strategy support
Mark is Head of IP Exploitation at Loughborough University and has over twenty years of experience in the commercialisation of early stage technologies across a wide range of sectors. Experience has included deal making, IP strategy, sourcing investors and partners, financial modelling and developing and implementing new business models and strategies for taking technologies to market. This experience has been gained worldwide and across the University sector (Nottingham, Toronto and Loughborough), Public Private Partnerships (the Energy Technologies Institute) and the Corporate sector (Philips).