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LifesaverSIM is a mobile simulator that allows everyone to master life-saving skills through gaming technology. In a world where tactical medicine and first aid are becoming critical knowledge, this project offers a path from theory to automation. Speakers Olesya and Yura Dyachyshyn share how "cognitive hardwiring" of the brain works, why simulation is more effective than lectures, and how a Ukrainian product is becoming an international standard.

LifesaverSIM looks like the perfect intersection of gaming and critical skills. How did the idea to use a game engine for survival training instead of entertainment come about? What is your main hypothesis: why does a game simulation work better than classic video lectures or textbooks?From the very beginning, we were interested in how gaming technologies could be used not for entertainment, but for preparation in situations where decisions must be made quickly and without room for chaos.

In a critical situation where a life must be saved, it is not enough for a person to simply "have heard about it somewhere" or take a course once or twice. You need a clear sequence of steps, an understanding of priorities, and a sense of timing already assembled in your head. This is exactly what simulation provides through repetitive practice.

Our main hypothesis is that a person learns an algorithm of actions better when they don't just read or watch, but go through a scenario themselves, making decisions, making mistakes, and immediately seeing the consequences of those mistakes. A classic video lecture is passive consumption. Simulation adds engagement, active participation, the need to act under time pressure, and the opportunity to live through a scenario multiple times without risk to a real person. It is also important to note what LifesaverSIM is not: it does not replace practice on mannequins. Its task is to form cognitive skills—recognizing a critical condition, not panicking, and choosing the correct sequence of actions.
First aid is a field where the fear of making a mistake prevails. How do you use the interface and game mechanics to work with the user's psychology and turn this fear into automatic confidence in a real situation?You know, the fear of making a mistake is actually the right starting point. A person who is afraid already understands that the situation is serious. That’s why we don’t try to remove this fear—we give them the experience of being able to act despite it.

In the simulator, a mistake is not punished—it is explained. After every action, the system shows what went wrong and why. There is a personal action log where the person can see the entire chronology of their decisions. This is the kind of feedback that simply doesn't exist in a real-life situation. The user then goes back and runs the scenario again, and gradually, fear is replaced by the realization: "I already know what needs to be done now." When an action is practiced to the point of automation in a simulation, the brain panics less in reality because it has already "seen" this scenario.
Your simulator requires maximum medical precision. Tell us about your validation process: how do you collaborate with medical experts and instructors to ensure that every virtual maneuver complies with TCCC or MARCH protocols without losing the game's dynamics?The life of the wounded person depends on the precision of every medical manipulation. It shouldn't be "roughly correct"; it must be precise, following the protocol. The TCCC protocol and the MARCH algorithm are the results of years of analysis and research: which actions save lives and which do not.

That is why our simulator, all courses, and simulation scenarios are strictly built according to these protocols. Collaboration with military medics and instructors is the foundation of our development. We sit down together, break down every scenario, and check: did we simplify something important? Are the realities of the battlefield taken into account? We are constantly working to ensure that every skill is presented according to protocol while remaining interesting and clear for someone who has never held a medical textbook.

Developing for mobile platforms is a technological challenge. what was the most difficult engineering decision your team had to make to keep the simulator accessible on a regular smartphone while maintaining high realism?The first challenge was security. We followed a simple logic: if the system doesn't have personal data, it cannot lose it. Integration with Army+ was a separate engineering task, but it made it possible to provide absolutely secure and free access to LifesaverSIM for every member of the military.

The second challenge was optimization. The simulator must work on various generations of mobile devices, including smartphones with low technical specs. Sufficient realism is needed for the user to feel the seriousness of the situation, but at the same time, the simulator must run on an ordinary phone without overheating or lagging. "UX under stress" is also important: the interface must create a sense of urgency, but the person shouldn't get lost in menus, because every extra tap is a lost second.
Lifesaver is a clear example of a dual-use product. How do you see your path to global civilian markets? Do you have an ambition to become the "Duolingo for first aid" on a global scale?LifesaverSIM was originally developed for the military, but we saw that the need exists in the civilian sector as well. Military validation is an advantage: if a product meets TCCC standards, it is more than sufficient for schools, firefighters, or emergency services.

Regarding the ambition to become "Duolingo for first aid"—yes, in the sense of accessibility and regularity. We want the skill to be formed continuously without the need to organize an offline training session every time. We are targeting global markets—official NATO organizations, the corporate sector, and education. We are currently localizing the product for NATO countries and are already available in the Nordic countries, the Baltics, Poland, as well as the UK, Canada, and others.

From an investor's perspective, Lifesaver is an EdTech product with a massive social impact. How do you measure your success today: by the number of downloads or by real stories of lives saved?The number of downloads is a metric for a presentation slide. It interests us less than what happens afterward. Key indicators for us are the depth of interaction: how many scenarios a person completed, whether the number of mistakes is decreasing, and how much faster they start making the right decisions.

Real stories are a separate category. When feedback reaches us that someone was able to stay calm in a critical situation and act clearly—that is the validation of our hypothesis. Each such story weighs more than any figure on a dashboard.
You are part of the Techosystem Defense cluster. How exactly did the expertise of the defense cluster help you refine scenarios involving the toughest conditions?The value of the Techosystem cluster is less about the product itself and more about project management as a whole. The cluster includes military personnel with real experience and other startups; it’s an environment where you aren’t just working in isolation. Experience in the military sector naturally transfers to the civilian one—for example, in matters of government relations (GR). The cluster helps refine decisions regarding product-market interaction and implementation.
How did networking within Techosystem help you find partners or investors who share your vision?We work in the complex domain of virtual training, which is still misunderstood by much of the market—people are less eager to give money to such projects than to drones. But in Techosystem, we found like-minded people among companies developing software solutions for the military. Together, we are working on legislative changes: ensuring that software developments have a place in the legitimate legal field so that military units can officially purchase software solutions. This is systemic work that you cannot do alone.

Developing such a product during a war is a constant test of resilience. Tell us about the moment you realized you were doing everything right?That moment came during the early prototype stage. A person with real combat experience, after running a scenario, said: "This is exactly what it looks like. This exact disorientation in the first seconds." Those were truthful feelings. We realized that the simulation reproduces not just the steps of an algorithm, but the state of a person in that situation. After that, the team stopped doubting our direction.
What do you envision the culture of providing aid in Ukraine and the world to look like in 5 years, thanks to Lifesaver?We believe that the skill of providing first aid should become as basic as knowing how to use a smartphone. We want LifesaverSIM to be a mandatory part of the school curriculum. We want a teenager or a student to undergo real training in a simulator before receiving their diploma.

On a global level, we want to become the digital standard for tactical medicine training. The simulator allows you to retain knowledge for as long as you want—it’s enough to play the role of a rescuer at least twice a month. It gives confidence and overcomes fear in the face of a threat. Because this saves lives.