Roxane Bandini-Maeder, CEO and co-founder of climate tech startup Geoneon, has been selected as the 2025 Tasmania Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year for her work on climate and disaster risks.

The Pearcey Foundation award recognises Tasmanian entrepreneurs who have “taken risks, made a difference, and inspired others”.

Bandini-Maeder and the team at geospatial firm Geoneon have positioned themselves as world leaders in technology for managing climate risk and disaster preparedness.

From its base in Tasmania, Geoneon is 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.

Bandini-Maeder 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, she met her future husband and Geoneon co-founder, Alex.

After graduation, Alex had an offer of a postdoctoral placement in Perth, and the couple made the shift to Western Australia before later relocating to Tasmania.

Both had studied in the geosciences, with Roxane specialising in geography and Alex focusing on geology. Their complementary skill sets sparked many conversations about how science could be used to make the world a better place, which led to them founding Geoneon.

By aggregating data from a range of sources (vegetation, topography, climate, weather, etc.), using AI to develop insights into climate and disaster risks, and overlaying that with scientific expertise, Geoneon develops and proposes preparedness measures that could reduce risks or ameliorate disaster impacts.

“Within the local startup community, Roxy, Alex and the rest of the Geoneon team have a reputation as a very ‘Tasmanian’ startup,” said James Riggall, chair of Pearcey Tasmania and 2015 Tasmanian Pearcey Award recipient.

“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.”

As the Tasmania Pearcey Award recipient, Bandini-Maeder will represent the state in the Pearcey National Awards to be announced in November.