The 16th Annual Meeting of New Champions 2025
UpLink, the World Economic Forum’s open innovation platform, brings together entrepreneurs and changemakers to address the world’s most pressing challenges and foster climate solutions.
At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025 in Tianjin (AMNC25), as part of the UpLink delegation, I had the honor of joining Professor Xiaoqian Chen of Beijing Forestry University to speak at the “Tech to Tame Wildfires” panel discussion on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025. I shared the RoboticsCats journey and vision.
Speaking to an audience of entrepreneurs, innovators, youth leaders, and media, I reflected on the challenges and opportunities in making wildfire detection technology accessible, the power of partnership, and the growing momentum from the private sector in climate resilience.
Making Life-Changing Technology Accessible
My experience at Cisco was transformative. I saw firsthand how high-resolution and low-latency video conferencing, once reserved for large enterprises, became available as software-as-a-service to everyone. This taught me that life-changing technology should not be a privilege—it must be accessible to all. That belief inspired me to found Robotics Cats.
When my friend Jojo’s community in Hong Kong was threatened by a wildfire, I realized that existing solutions were expensive, slow to deploy, and too complex for most frontline communities. We knew we could do better. That’s why we built LookOut, the world’s first AI wildfire detection SaaS. Our platform transforms any existing surveillance camera into a 24/7 wildfire sentinel. There’s no need for new hardware, deployment is instant, and alerts are delivered directly to customers and stakeholders via email or API. Our technology is now protecting millions of hectares across 11 countries, helping communities respond faster and save lives. In Uruguay, for example, our system detected a wildfire near a landfill at 1:42 a.m., enabling firefighters to contain the fire before it spread. In Brazil and Australia, we help renewable energy power plants detect early wildfire outbreaks and protect critical infrastructure.
Partnership is in Our DNA
At Robotics Cats, we believe in building bridges, not walls. Our success in the XPRIZE Wildfire Challenge with the Fire Foresight team is a testament to the power of cross-organizational collaboration. By working with technology vendors, universities, NGOs, and global innovation communities such as UpLink, XPRIZE and FIRE-RES, we accelerate development and deliver greater value to those facing wildfire threats. This partner-focused approach enables us to quickly adapt our solutions to diverse environments, scaling our impact and ensuring no community is left behind.
Private Sector Support for Climate Resilience
It’s inspiring to see more private sector leaders stepping up to support climate resilience. Prudence Foundation‘s commitment to the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards 2025 is just one example of how insurers and other private entities are funding, mentoring, and scaling disaster-tech solutions. This kind of cross-sector collaboration is crucial. When technology, insurance, government, and civil society work together, we can make the world safer and more resilient for all.
Reflecting on these themes, I shared with the audience in the Tech to Tame Wildfires session:
“I think there are two options in front of us:
We can choose to lay back, isolate ourselves from risks and from each other, wait and see what happens, and suffer together as a species.
Or we can step forward, move out of our comfort zones, work together as a team, take calculated risks, try new approaches, make things happen, and share the success and benefits as a civilization.”
In Tianjin, I called on everyone to join this movement. Taming wildfires requires not just cutting-edge technology, but also a shared commitment to partnership and collective action. Together, we can build a safer, better world.
Tech to Tame Wildfires – We Win As a Team
Fast forward to Monday, July 14th, 2025, XPRIZE announced the 15 Semifinalist Teams advancing to the next stage of the $5M Autonomous Wildfire Response Track. These Semifinalists are developing fully autonomous systems that can detect and suppress high-risk wildfires within minutes of ignition—before they escalate into destructive events.
Congratulations to all the Semifinalist Teams!
Congratulations to the Fire Foresight team! We’re proud of part of it! Indicium Dynamics, Taz Drone Solutions, Little Place Labs, and Robotics Cats – cheers to what we’ve accomplished, on top of our already busy startup journey!
What’s next?
The XPRIZE Wildfire operations team will travel to each Autonomous Wildfire Response Semifinalist team location for in-field testing. Teams will physically demonstrate their autonomous end-to-end wildfire response system, including smart detection, autonomous navigation and safety, and autonomous suppression, along with an overall technical readiness and scalability assessment of their system.
It is an exciting summer!
