Scientific research generates enormous amounts of data each year, yet the vast majority of it remains unused, representing a significant waste of resources. Collecting science data costs billions annually, but less than 1% is shared for reuse. Addressing this challenge, Ecodb was developed as a platform to facilitate the sharing of science data and the exchange of environmental information. Built on FAIR/O-compliant standards and designed around free-market principles, it allows users to access datasets at no cost while data publishers earn ongoing micropayments based on usage. Ecodb’s mission is to promote global data sharing while creating sustainable value for those who generate the data.

Can you describe the primary services Ecodb offers to different stakeholder groups (like researchers, government entities, environmental scientists, and industry) and how these services support their specific data management needs?

Our primary differentiator is that the platform enables a stakeholder group to monetize its data sets on an ongoing basis. Other organizations may be attracted to us, as it is a means to cost-effectively store their data sets and selectively share their data sets. We are standards based, and support both unlimited team members or the single user; and we also have particularly low-cost use cases.

From a platform user’s perspective, we seek to provide ease in finding data sets that are useful and where they can visualize them online and download for reuse. We are enhancing this free interface continually to improve the search experience.

How does Ecodb ensure data quality, security, and standards compliance across its platform for both private and public environmental datasets?

We have growing libraries of the parameters that are to be measured and their units of measurement that licensees to the platform can select from; as well as enable the establishment of custom attributes and in that regard the platform is very flexible. Because the platform is licensed-based, we check for the integrity of published data and have the ability to suspend platform licenses that do not comply with publishing standards.

What mechanisms does Ecodb employ to promote and manage the publication of environmental data into the Public Domain, and how do you ensure accessibility and usefulness for community stakeholders?

So far, we have relied on platform license holders to advise their peers and customers that they have published their data sets. Commencing this year, we are becoming proactive is promoting the platform. License holders can track the accrued earnings of their published data sets, and this provides a good metric of data popularity and an incentive to publish further data sets.

Could you explain how Ecodb’s monetization model works for data contributors, and what benefits contributors have seen from sharing their data on the platform?

Unlimited data sets can be stored, and an unlimited selection can be immediately published or withdrawn from publication with just a mouse click. The platform’s algorithm inspects and tracks every type of interaction with a published data set and weights that interaction to reflect the relative importance of the interaction. Cleary inclusion in a search is weighted less than the decision to download the data set in electronic form.

At the end of the month, platform interactions are algorithmically analyzed for potential abuse, and then an equitable share of the platform’s monthly revenue is accrued to the licensee’s account. Funds are disbursed on demand.

Seeing a monthly increase in accrued funds is a motivation in itself as it reinforces the value to the community of sharing science data sets. Even the most esoteric of data sets will accrue value over time and overcome the modest time cost of ingesting and publishing.

What are the key technological capabilities of the Ecodb platform (e.g., data transformation, calibration relationships, and integration tools) that differentiate it from traditional environmental data management systems?

The ecodb platform strives to enforce data standards, while also enabling user-created non-standard parameters and units if measurement, and the library is continually growing. Advanced functions are available where a data set can be recalibrated by changing its units of measurement, e.g. Fahrenheit to Centigrade. And transformation functions can be established by a user e.g. depth of stream water into a non-linear stream flow. More recently, now that we have concentrations of diverse data sets in various locations, we are able to predict the probability of specific diseases based on community health instances and the contributing environmental factors. 

From a platform perspective, we rely on the free market to provide feedback on what the community regards as valuable rather than government fiat.

How does Ecodb support collaborative projects or partnerships across geographically dispersed teams, and what tools are provided to help these teams work together effectively?

Ecodb supports both team based and individual licenses, as well as low-cost licenses to academics, non-profits and potential strategic partners that wish to collaborate. Team members can view each other’s unpublished data, and it is secure. Only the team leader can disburse earned funds.  

Where do you see Ecodb’s growth and strategic position over the next five years, particularly in terms of platform capabilities, customer adoption, and its role in the environmental data ecosystem?

We continue to provide advanced functions; both in analysis and in platform search. One of our initiatives is in the ML/AI space where we can leverage our increasingly large volume of published data sets. We have also seen a surprisingly robust growth in community health data sets, dominated by the African continent, and this growth is accelerating.

From a customer adoption perspective, we have some key partnerships. We have partnered with Education Africa where they provide our platform to senior high school and University students to advance STEM studies and entrepreneurism in the environmental space, and in the process gather a wide range of environmental data sets. Another key partner is St Andrews University in Scotland who have a project to analyze hospital admittance for contagious disease in East Africa and to project trends in locations and which also utilizes ecodb to provide a disease outbreak early warning service by-passing legacy slow reporting information systems. In the USA we are partnering with City University of Seattle to monitor country wide adherence to air quality emissions permits, and in the process increase awareness of STEM studies.

To explore Ecodb’s growing library of published environmental and science datasets, visit www.ecodb.org.

Organizations and researchers interested in sharing and monetizing their science data can register as new users at www.ecodb.org/licenses.cfm

Dr Alan Edwards – Short Bio

Dr Alan Edwards is an experienced CEO with a background spanning IT and Big Four strategic management consulting. He founded an Australian technology firm that developed database productivity tools, which were licensed and supported globally across industries by some of the world’s largest organizations.

"Ecodb empowers researchers and organizations to share, access, and utilize scientific and environmental data globally while providing ongoing opportunities to monetize their data sets."