Flow Studio Empowers Young Scientists Without the Risk of Burning Down the House

The scientific method is simple: do something and see what happens. Anyone can do it, no matter their age – and as far as Flow Studio is concerned, curious youngsters might make the best scientists of all.

The South Korea-based startup is looking to empower the next generation of scientists by opening up their labs remotely to students across the globe and running experiments on their behalf.

Flow Studio offers students (and more specifically, their parents) a subscription, which grants them access to Flow Studio’s laboratory. Students can submit ideas for experiments, which Flow Studio can run – even the wilder ideas.

Using 3D printing and simple, Arduino-based computers, Flow Studio can make custom devices tailored to students’ experiment ideas, run those experiments, and provide students with data that students can then analyze and use in reports. If nothing else, science fairs everywhere just got a lot more interesting!

During our interview, Flow Studio CEO Aayon Jeong talked about the importance of opening science up to more students. While encouraging elementary school students to start writing real research papers might sound – let’s go with ambitious – the reality is that this is already possible for kids from wealthier families that can rent time at university laboratories.

While a Flow Studio subscription isn’t cheap, it’s more affordable than using a university’s lab, and on top of that, Flow Studio can make custom lab equipment to suit students’ experiment ideas. And, because Flow Studio is running those experiments for students, science is opened up to students living in suburban or rural areas that likely don’t live near a university or a lab.

It’s a lot safer, too… as great as kids doing science sounds, a lot of kid science resembles, say, seeing what happens when you mix coke and bleach! Kids are curious, and curiosity is science, but curiosity can also burn the house down. Flow Studio suggested it might be better if maybe the grownups run the dangerous experiments, and let the kids know what happens after. They’re probably not wrong.

Flow Studio also hopes their remote labs can foster scientific collaboration across countries. Eventually, with enough students, they’ll be able to connect students from different countries with similar interests, putting more minds to work on the same question.

Currently, Flow Studio only has individual students signed up in their native South Korea, but they are looking to talk to schools to get all of their students access, as well as taking their labs global. Canada could be the first stop, but with a trip to CES 2025 in Las Vegas this coming January, Flow Studio has hopes for the United States, as well.

In time, Flow Studio hopes that a new generation of scientists will be working on climate change, electric battery safety, and lots more – research that was once limited to folks who have physical access to the best and most expensive labs. By making their labs available to students everywhere remotely, Flow Studio is knocking down barriers to doing serious science. We’re excited to see what the brightest minds of the next generation will do because of it!

This story has been brought to you in partnership with Aving.NET and Pangyo Techno Valley. Pangyo Techno Valley, a global innovation hub in South Korea, hosted the ‘Pangyo Global Media Meet Up’ to share issues from Pangyo and its innovative companies with the world. The event facilitates networking between Pangyo companies and global innovation hubs like Silicon Valley, Station F, and China’s Zhongguancun. It also promotes Korean businesses through global media channels. All thoughts and opinions are 100% our own.