Every year, approximately 8% of women and 1.5% of men in Sweden are subjected to sexual crimes, a trend that has dramatically increased over the past decade. A deeper analysis shows that about 1.5% of the total annually experience sexual crimes involving coercion or exploitation of a defenseless position, which equates to approximately 157,500 individuals, the majority of whom are women.

Individuals subjected to assault and serious assault has remained steady over the past 10 years, at about 3% and 0.6%, respectively. In numbers, this corresponds to approximately 315,000 and 63,000 people, with the majority being men. All statistics pertain to individuals aged 16-84 years.

The commonality between these offenses is that they are physical, involve a perpetrator, and create both physical and psychological stress for the victim, leading to traumatic consequences.

The project group's objective has been to develop a concept that enables a person in an emergency situation to automatically summon help without user interaction. There is not always time or the opportunity to call for help when one is being attacked.

The result is Friend In Need, an application designed for commercial smartwatches. Friend In Need detects when your body reacts with the fight or flight response. When the alarm is activated, a notification is sent to preset emergency contacts with a location guide to the user and a live update of the user's health parameters. By activating multiple functions when the alarm starts, Friend In Need collects evidence that helps law enforcement secure convictions against perpetrators.