Episode 401 — BlueConduit and the Flint Water Project

In 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan, switched its drinking water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River to save money, resulting in a decade-long public health crisis in which Flint’s residents faced lead contamination and other serious health issues. A major challenge for Flint and hundreds of cities looking to update their aging water infrastructure is efficiently and accurately predicting the location of lead pipes. Enter BlueConduit, a Ross School of Business start-up that originated the approach of using machine learning to do just that. Since the company's foundation in 2016, they've rapidly expanded, working with over 100 customer accounts spanning over 400 different towns and cities in more than 25 states.

On this episode of Business and Society, Professor Eric Schwartz, co-founder of BlueConduit and associate professor of marketing at Michigan Ross, sits down with host JT Godfrey to discuss his experience tackling the Flint Water Crisis. Schwartz explains how the company’s machine learning technology works, recounts BlueConduit’s journey from beginning as a community start-up to expanding and impacting public policy, gives insights into the businesses of public utility and infrastructure, and shares his optimism in data science and marketing being used as forces for good.

To learn more about the hosts, participants, resources, and research discussed in this episode, check out a full-length article for this episode at https://michiganross.umich.edu/news/podcasts/business-society.

• Host: JT Godfrey
• Guest: Eric Schwartz
• Executive Producers: JT Godfrey and Jeff Karoub
• Audio Engineer: Jonah Brockman
• Editorial Production: Mads Henke

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