Partnership!

Partners, why?...

If you look at our interactive map, you’ll see that most of our Telraam devices are active in Belgium, and a bit in the Netherlands. This is our home turf. It has taken a few years to get this density of Telraam sensors and after a lot of trial and (t)error, we’ve come to understand the best way to deploy devices in a financially sustainable way. In Belgium and the Netherlands, we achieve this via many (small) projects for local authorities, where we help with citizen engagement and data interpretation in context of a myriad of local traffic interventions.

However, we want Telraam to be more than just a gimmick from the lowlands. We want citizens to count traffic with Telraam everywhere from San Francisco to Shanghai! We strongly believe in the role citizens can play in shaping more sustainable cities, and how important objective data is to direct discussions around mobility in a constructive manner. We've seen it happen many times! The fact that we're getting more questions and requests from abroad shows us that we're not alone! With partners we can go further and faster on this mission. 

We’re eager to see Telraam mature and spread its wings, but we’re also very aware that the path to citizen-enabled traffic counting may be very different elsewhere. Even within Europe, there are big differences between Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany or France, let alone the difference between Europe and the US or Asia. We’re certain that open, transparent science-based discussions are crucial for effective sustainable mobility planning everywhere, but we can’t know every local traffic management issue. We don’t know about local grants, procurement rules or funding mechanisms. How would we reach the locally engaged communities?

ok, but how...

In Belgium and Netherlands, Telraam, as an organisation, is helping local authorities and other clients with citizen engagement (through workshops) or data analysis within their Telraam projects. We can’t do that in Berlin, Bordeaux or Barcelona from our office in Belgium. We’ll need local partners to do that with us.

So, in the same way that we’re crowdsourcing traffic data collection with our sensor installed by citizens, we concluded crowdsourcing the international expansion of Telraam by working with local partners is the way to go. We rely on You to spread Telraam and the idea of crowd-sourced traffic counting data, wherever you’re based and in whatever way works best in your area.

We've built a toolset of training material for partners to build an in depth knowledge of how Telraam works: the sensor, the data, the engagement approach. We'll take time to train partners so you've got everything you need to introduce Telraam in your area.

Can I be a partner?

But, who are we looking for? What would an ideal Telraam partner look like? 

First and foremost, our ideal partner is a true believer in the value of data in decision making and understands that involving citizens in this process is particularly valuable. Telraam partners should know the best approach to delivering Telraam in their local market and be connected to those who are making these decisions. Our ideal partner understands citizen engagement and would preferably already have some experience using digital tools in citizen engagement/participation. 

That’s about it! We’re appealing to anyone, from individual self-employed people, to small consultancies, research institutes as well as multinationals to join the Telraam mission. If this all sounds interesting to you, apply and let’s start a conversation!