Mastering the development of a climate service from start to end
If you're working on a weather or climate-related service or technology innovation, then how can you turn it into a commercially successful business of value to weather affected enterprises, including those in the energy and related sectors?
This masterclass - produced in association with InterMET.digital - is your opportunity to find out first hand from those who have launched successful weather and climate services businesses, and from those who can provide the critical investment you'll need.
The Panel of Experts will examine the business opportunities for weather & climate services, and explain how to go about raising money, building a management team, developing a business and marketing plan, and understanding your target market.
If you are a would-be weather entrepreneur, a graduate student or researcher, or a planner or practitioner seeking to apply meteorology or hydrology expertise and innovations, then this masterclass is not to be missed.
Chair & Panellists:
Dr. Jan F. Dutton
CEO, Prescient Weather Ltd
Jan is the creator of the World Climate Service seasonal/subseasonal forecast application and holds a PhD in Meteorology and an MBA from Penn State University in the United States.
His career spans over 20 years in the weather information industry.
Dr. Carlos Gaitan
CEO & Co-founder, Benchmark Labs Inc
Dr. Gaitan is the Co-founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs. He did his doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) working with William Hsieh in machine learning applications in the environmental sciences. He also holds a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering and a Master degree in Hydrosystems from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota, Colombia).
He is an elected member of the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Artificial Intelligence Committee. He previously worked at early stage start-ups in the environmental science space, including VP of Weather Forecasting and Head of Data Science at Arable Labs, and as Research Scientist for the South Central Climate Science Center at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New Jersey.
Dr. Karl Gutbrod
CEO, meteoblue AG
Karl is the CEO of meteoblue AG, a Swiss meteorology data provider founded in 2006 as a Spin-of the University of Basel, Switzerland. Karl came to meteoblue with 25 years of experience in international agri-business, as project and unit leader in development, product management, marketing, business development and information services. Karl has worked for GTZ, DED, Ciba, Novartis and Syngenta. He has lived and worked in Germany, Switzerland, United States, Brazil, Thailand, and China, and other places. Karl holds a PhD in agronomy from the University of Göttingen, Germany.
In addition to his day job, he teaches courses the University of Cooperative Education in Lörrach, Germany, and supervises Bachelor students there in the subjects of Decision Theory, Innovation Management, Marketing and International Business Strategy. In 09-2018, Karl has joined the Board of directors of PRIMET, the pan European Trade association for meteorological service providers operating in the private sector.
Alan Richards
Partner & Co-founder, West Hill Capital
Alan has more than 30 years’ experience in investment analysis, corporate finance and venture capital with companies including Barclays, HSBC and Maple Securities before co-founding West Hill in 2003.
West Hill invests around £60 million annually in early stage companies across a range of sectors including software, digital platforms, fintech, cleantech, medtech and bio-industrial.
Simon Hombersley
CEO, Xampla
Simon is he CEO of Xampla, a Cambridge University spin-out which makes replacements for plastic from plant protein.
He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded several previous businesses making a positive impact on the environment.
