2025 Tasmanian Award

In 2025 the Tasmanian Pearcey State Entrepreneurship Award was presented to Roxane Bandini Maeder, chief executive officer and cofounder of the Tasmanian climate-tech startup Geoneon. The presentation was made by the Honorable Jane Howlett MP at the Enterprize Tasmania Demo Day in Hobart on October 28th, 2025.

The Pearcey State Entrepreneur award recognises entrepreneurs who have taken risks, made a difference, and inspired others. Roxane and the team at Geoneon have positioned themselves as world leaders in technology for managing climate risk and disaster preparedness. From their base in Tasmania, Geoneon are delivering a substantial positive impact internationally, with the team regularly travelling to areas that are prone to climate impacts and supporting governments and organisations in those areas to plan and adapt.

James Riggall, chair of Pearcey Tasmania and 2015 Tasmanian Pearcey Award recipient, commented,

Within the Tasmanian startup community, Roxy, Alex and the rest of the Geoneon team have a reputation as a very “Tasmanian” startup.  They are creating positive international impact from our island state, travelling widely to bring Tasmanian expertise to governments, organisations and regions all over the planet, and building capability that is grounded in environmental science and a deep understanding of the world we live in. That Roxy and Alex have developed this local reputation as relative newcomers to Tasmania, from their original home in the Swiss Alps, is testament to their visible dedication to their mission of making the world a better place through science and technology

Roxane Bandini-Maeder

Roxane was born in Switzerland and grew up around the Alps; an area prone to natural disasters and the impact of climate change.  While living in Switzerland, Roxane met her future husband and cofounder Alex. After graduation, Alex had an offer of a postdoc placement in Perth, Western Australia, and the two of them decided to make the shift from the cool climate of the Swiss Alps to the scorching heat of WA.

Both Roxane and Alex studied in the geosciences, with Roxane specialising in geography and Alex focusing on geology. These complementary skillsets sparked many conversations about how science could be used to make the world a better place, and in particular, how science could play a role, not just in calculating climate risk and aiding with disaster-recovery, but, most importantly, in helping governments and other organisations build resilience to climate-related shocks through preparedness measures. They asked themselves, “what if we were able to build a company that used geoscience to build planetary resilience to climate change and natural disasters?”.

The idea proved to have a resilience of its own. After some time in Perth, Roxane and Alex decided to relocate to Tasmania.  They pulled up their roots in WA and started driving and working their way south-east. Over this drive of many hours, the essence of what would later be Geoneon was born. They would use their geoscience skills and a range of data to help make the world safer using science and technology as the underlying foundation. They would aggregate data from a range of sources (vegetation, topography, climate, weather, etc.) and use artificial intelligence to develop insights into climate and disaster risks. Rather than just articulating these risks, they would also use their backgrounds as scientists to propose preparedness measures that could reduce risks or ameliorate disaster impacts.

When she talks about Geoneon, Roxane talks about their key points of difference being the quality and efficiency of their AI model, the team’s deep expertise in the science around climate risks and natural disasters, and, importantly, the team’s steadfast focus on preparedness as the primary objective. Where many competitors focus on calculating risk, rapid response and disaster-recovery, Geoneon focuses on supporting their clients to take meaningful steps to reduce risk in the first instance.

Press

2025 Tasmanian Award

Roxane Bandini-Maeder
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