When Paul Seligman talks about his journey into the fire safety industry, he doesn’t dress it up.
“It was pure luck,” he says, and yet it’s clear that luck was only the beginning.
In 2016, at a networking event in Singapore, Paul happened to meet James, the son of Ciqurix founder Alan Boyd. Alan was unwell and preparing to hand over the business; James was looking for investment and support. Paul, having recently left the army and tried his hand in finance, was searching for something more meaningful.
“I could clearly see the potential of the product,” he recalls. “And it took only a small amount of digging to see that there was a huge hole in the market for it to fill.”
That chance encounter became the start of the Ciqurix story and of Paul’s leadership journey in a sector he describes as “a fascinating mix of innovation and conservatism, full of interesting, intelligent and diligent people.”
He often reflects on the sliding‑doors moment that brought him here.
“When I think that I might have turned left instead of right as I walked into that networking event… I shake my head at the weird wonderfulness of it all.”
Trusting the Experts
Leading a company in a safety‑critical industry comes with weight and responsibility. For Paul, the biggest lesson has been a familiar one.
“Trust the experts. To be honest, I’ve re‑learnt that lesson.”
He draws a direct line back to his time as a junior officer in the army, where the complexity of any situation meant relying on the experience of the soldiers around him. The fire industry, he says, is no different in that regard.
“System design, detection sensitivities, regulatory environments… there is far too much to learn for a manager not to trust the experience of the people around him.”
He summarises it with a clarity: “Find people who know what they’re doing and trust them.”
Or, in what Paul admits is business‑speak BS: “Don’t hire chess players and treat them like chess pieces.”
Paul as a junior British Army officer in Helmand Province, 2011
A Changing Industry and a Growing Demand for Better Solutions
Paul sees the fire safety industry on the cusp of significant change.
Businesses, he says, are taking fire response far more seriously than they used to. With tighter regulations, squeezed margins and greater scrutiny, end users are no longer passively accepting whatever system is recommended. They want assurance that the solution will actually work, not just tick a box.
This shift is good news for Ciqurix.
“We have a product which blows the legacy technologies out of the water,” Paul says. “With companies pushing back against the recommendations of their advisors, some of whom might have vested interests in the old tech, we are banging down the door with the solution to the customer’s problems.”
Why Video Flame Detection Matters in High‑Risk Environments
Paul is unequivocal about the limitations of traditional smoke and heat detection in complex industrial settings.
“Legacy solutions have never worked well in these environments,” he says. “They were only ever installed because there was no better alternative.”
In heavy industry, logistics, waste processing and energy, there are countless ways for fire detectors to be confused or rendered ineffective. False alarms, downtime and operational disruption have long been accepted as unavoidable.
“These industries have been crying out for decades for something that will not cause them endless problems and will reliably detect fires when needed. Ciqurix’s CORE video flame detection system is dropping into that hole seamlessly.”
Challenging Misconceptions
Paul encounters two recurring misconceptions.
Inside the industry, people say that “video fire detection doesn’t work.” He hears it often “No it can’t,” “It’s been tried,” “It’ll never get past the regulator.”
His response is simple: “Well, it can, it does and it has.”
Outside the industry, the perception is that “Fire, as a problem, has been solved.” Laypeople assume detection and suppression are universally reliable.
“The reality,” Paul says, “is that the fire industry’s tools are like an umbrella with several panels missing.”
Why Ciqurix Pushed for LPS 1976 and Why It Matters
One of Paul’s most significant strategic decisions was pushing for the creation of LPS 1976, the world’s first independent performance standard for video flame detection.
Without it, Ciqurix faced a paradox: a revolutionary technology with no regulatory framework to validate it.
“A fire product is considered ‘experimental’ until it has the tick box from the regulator,” Paul explains. “In a life safety industry, you cannot nail an experimental product to the wall and hope it works.”
But existing certifications weren’t set up to cope with or allow video technology. “It’s like mining on Mars,” he says. “Why would there be a regulation? No one is doing it.”
So Ciqurix worked with BRE and others to help create one.
The result?
A certification that proves, independently and rigorously, that video flame detection works.
And Ciqurix became the first company in the world to meet it.
“For Ciqurix, achieving LPS 1976 means the question of whether video flame detection ‘works’ has been comprehensively answered. The industry can stop asking and start specifying.”
Innovation, Responsibility and the Future of Fire Detection
“Innovation,” Paul says, “means showing an industry that is primarily motivated by safety that what we are doing is making people and businesses safer.”
The fire industry may move slowly, but when it changes direction, it does so decisively.
And Ciqurix is helping steer that shift.
Paul is clear about the responsibility that comes with innovation.
“No ‘move fast and break things’ around here,” he says. “We go through the processes to prove ourselves to the professional, risk‑averse experts to whom we are trying to sell our invention.”
Looking ahead, Paul sees Ciqurix not just as a pioneer of video flame detection, but as a company capable of filling many of the gaps in society’s fire detection “umbrella.”
“There are improvements to be made, many more problems to be solved. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be Ciqurix to solve them.”
A Leader Shaped by Experience and Driven by Purpose
Paul’s leadership blends military discipline, commercial clarity and a deep respect for expertise. His journey into fire safety may have begun by chance, but everything since has been intentional.
He leads with curiosity, humility and conviction and with a clear belief that Ciqurix is helping the industry move into a safer, more reliable future.
And perhaps that’s the real story: A chance meeting in Singapore. A technology ahead of its time.
And a leader determined to bring it into the world, one certified, trusted, industry‑changing step at a time.
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