Safecast was recently visited by a group of French master’s students to learn more about our organization and approach, including how Safecast works to drive innovation and develop crowdsourced solutions.
The group of students from Digital College in France are studying digital marketing, digital communication, social media, web marketing, project management, start-up management, e-commerce, digital design, and artistic direction. They were visiting Tokyo as part of a learning expedition, visiting start-ups, companies, incubators, accelerators, and organizations in a different country to network and open themselves to international markets.
In the seminar, Pieter Franken introduced Safecast, spoke about the organization’s history, approach, and described our work on open data and citizen science.
At the time of the Tohoku earthquake and the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, citizens had little to no access to radiation data. Simultaneously, trust issues developed between the Japanese Government and the population over issues such as lack of access to data.
A group in and outside Japan banded together, looking for answers and ways to generate and share data. This group quickly became the foundation of Safecast and the crowdsourced development of Geiger counters that were used to gather and share granular radiation data.
The approach and solution development leveraged a start-up mentality prioritizing agility, minimal viable product (MVP) design, and rapid iterations. Many successful start-ups use similar approaches to create success.
“One of our core lessons was, don’t spend much time to make something perfect. Instead, try it, and if it doesn’t work, then try something else,” Pieter explained.
Another central pillar is an open and collaborative approach to data. Anyone can build and use Safecast devices to gather data. Safecast employs a Creative Commons CC0 license that enables anyone — individuals, companies, or other organizations — to freely use the more than 200 million environmental data points we have gathered, including for commercial purposes.
Pieter Franken also talked about how our open source, open data, crowdsourcing, independence, inclusivity, and objective, non-partisan approach are core to Safecast’s DNA.
The visit provided insight into radiation and inspiration for the French students for their business ideas.
Kevin Marchandiau, a participating student from Paris, explained how the Safecast approach corresponded with his ambition of creating a digital marketing agency focused on sustainability.
“Transparency is a key factor for trust, and the Safecast approach to generating that trust in data is something that overlaps with the needs I see for a specialized digital agency focused on sustainability,” he said.
In the past, Safecast has frequently provided seminars like this for visiting academic and business groups. That activity totally stopped during the peak pandemic years, but if the recent influx of inbound visitors to Japan is any indication, we expect to be hosting many more groups in coming months.