Makers go PRO in fighting climate change

• The new generation Smart Citizen Kit will launch for sale on Seeed Studio Bazaar
• Smart Citizen Kit is part of the wider Smart Citizen toolchain of software and co-design tools which combine to empower people with the tools and methodologies to monitor the health of their immediate environment.
• Smart Citizen was designed at Fab Lab Barcelona in 2012 and since, 1500 Smart Citizen sensors have been deployed in all continents in the world.
• Over 4000 citizens have registered with Smart Citizen to date to monitor pollution in cities.
• The partnership with Seeed will accelerate the speed with which the project can be scaled. This will increase the visibility of the maker movement and the need for citizen-driven environmental sensing in China, Europe, and the Americas.

The new generation Smart Citizen Kit will launch for sale on Seeed Studio Bazaar in March following a period of pre-sales which will start today, February 29, 2019.

Smart Citizen Kit is part of the wider Smart Citizen toolchain of software and co-design methodologies which combined, empower people to monitor the health of their immediate environment. Collecting and monitoring data like air and noise quality is critical to raise awareness and find solutions to issues that matter to cities. The digital platform, where collected data can be visualized and shared, offers an open-source alternative to centralized data production and management systems used by larger corporations, that constitute the driving force behind the smart city concept.

Smart Citizen was designed at Fab Lab Barcelona in 2012, 1500 sensors have been deployed across all continents. Thus far, over 4000 citizens have registered to use the sensors to monitor pollution in cities and this venture with Seeed, the largest open source hardware manufacturer and online store in China, will help to scale this.

The partnership brings together EU research with Chinese Innovation, and will also increase the visibility of the Maker Movement as a key force in empowering citizens to be active in bringing about solutions to pressing social issues. Seeed Studio has been featured on the cover of Forbes magazine, Wired magazine, and is the organizer of the largest Maker Faire in the world, Shenzhen Maker Faire. This international positioning and it’s base in China, will help to raise global awareness of citizen-driven environmental sensing. The teams at Smart Citizen and Seeed hope this global reach will monitor pollution in cities. Through their link with the global Fab City network which includes Seoul, Paris and Mexico City; the teams hope city administrations of the world will take action to empower citizens in the collective fight against pollution inspired by this unique Europe – China collaboration.

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