AI Meets Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Resilience Across Assets

Join us for a breakfast during Climate Tech week organized by Cathay Innovation around AI Meets Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Resilience Across Assets.

As climate risks intensify, adaptation is rapidly emerging as the next frontier of climate tech—and AI is becoming a critical enabler. From wildfire prediction and grid resilience to insurance, infrastructure, and natural capital, a new wave of startups is redefining how we anticipate and respond to physical climate risks.

This session brings together founders, investors, and operators at the intersection of AI and climate adaptation to explore how intelligence is being embedded across real-world systems. We’ll discuss where AI is already delivering value, how business models differ across asset classes—from datacenters to ecosystems—and what it takes to scale solutions in complex, regulated environments.

Join us for a conversation on the evolving “adaptation stack", the rise of new investment opportunities, and how technology can help build resilience in a hotter, more volatile world.

The program will include:

8:00am: Welcome 8:30am: Opening of the panel & quick intro on the topic and organizers 8:35am : Panel "AI Meets Climate Adaptation: Unlocking Resilience Across Assets" Gemma Guilera Ferre, Managing Director for Climate Adaptation and Planetary Intelligence, Stanford Sustainability acceleratorIgnacio Zuleta, Chief Technology and Product Officer, OroratechLucas Guillet, Investment Director, BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture FundModerator: Matthieu Soulé, Partner & Head of C.Lab, Cathay Innovation

9:05am: Q&A

9:15am: Networking & breakfast

GEMMA GUILERA

Gemma Guilera is an innovator, entrepreneur and scientist who operates at the intersection of sustainability, business and technology. She is Managing Director of the Sustainability Accelerator, bringing two decades of international experience across sustainability, advanced materials, and urban innovation. Currently her work focuses on climate adaptation and resilience and the intersection between sustainability and AI.

Gemma has led transformative global initiatives, including scaling a start-up and pioneering the development of compostable materials for sustainable packaging. She played a key role in launching the Accelerator for Cities at Connected Places Catapult, where she supported over 2000 startups and helped define EU standards for citizen-centric smart and resilience city innovation. As a chemist, she worked with TOYOTA to design a commercially successful car catalyst that reduced toxic vehicle emissions and built, commissioned and operated the X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Beamline at ALBA Synchrotron Light Source. Gemma holds a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Barcelona and an MSc and PhD in Chemistry from King’s College London.

Ignacio A. Zuleta

Dr. Ignacio A. Zuleta is a product leader and technologist specializing in Earth observation and large-scale sensing systems. As the Chief Product and Technology Officer of OroraTech, he leads the development of a global network of spaceborne thermal sensors, driving innovation across satellite design, data infrastructure, and real-time analytics. With a PhD from Stanford and prior leadership roles at Planet Labs, Indigo Agriculture, and Satellogic, he brings deep expertise spanning sensor physics to commercial EO products. He is focused on building a persistent global thermal intelligence layer to enable real-time monitoring for applications such as wildfire detection, climate risk, and infrastructure protection.

Cathay Innovation is a global multistage venture capital firm investing in founders building transformative businesses across Europe, North America, Asia, Latam and Africa. Its platform connects founders with Fortune 500 partners to help startups scale and transform industries with consumer to enterprise AI solutions. Founded in 2015, Cathay Innovation manages €2.5B+ and has invested in 120+ startups including Chime, Pinduoduo, Glovo, Owkin, Ledger and more.

Link: www.cathayinnovation.com

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