Santa Cruz Works had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Andre Cheung, CEO of Robotics Cats, back for a visit. Andre, a 2022 graduate of Santa Cruz Accelerates' 5th cohort, was accompanied by the Fire Foresight Team — a consortium of four (only 3 listed below) innovative startups from the Asia-Pacific region tackling wildfire management through cutting-edge technology.

The team included:

• Andre Cheung / Robotics Cats (Hong Kong): whose company focuses on early wildfire detection through terrestrial cameras.

• Rob Vernon / Indicium Dynamics (Australia): an expert in digital forestry and IoT systems.

• Andrew Davies / Taz Drone Solutions (Australia): offering rapid response solutions in wildfire management.

On a beautiful fall afternoon at AirSpace Integration, the Fire Foresight Team connected with local industry leaders, including: Chris Bley: Air Space Int. & DART, Josh Metz, Andrea Pesce, and Art Siordia from DART, Craig Stevens of Parallel Flight, Damjan Zabovnik of EIVIE Corp.

Their meeting quickly turned into an exchange of ideas and technical demonstrations, revealing a wealth of potential collaboration opportunities between the visiting teams and local experts.

Following their visit, the Fire Foresight Team made a stop at Joby Aviation in Marina, CA, before heading out for their next major endeavor. As participants in the XPRIZE Wildfire Autonomous Response competition, the team stands out as the only one serving clients across five continents, showcasing the global reach of their innovative solutions.

The team’s participation in XPRIZE marks an important milestone in advancing wildfire management technologies. You can read more about their success in the XPRIZE competition HERE.