Meet the Innovator: Imeshi Weerasinghe

Imeshi Weerasinghe has a simple test for climate technology: if it needs training wheels, it has already failed. As founder and CEO of WEO, she's on a mission to make the most advanced climate intelligence as easy to use as checking the weather forecast on your phone.

WEO combines satellite data, AI and local knowledge to create high-resolution maps of climate risks such as heat, flood and fire. These maps give communities, councils and essential service providers the information they need to act early and stay safe. Through their collaboration with Australian Red Cross and the community of Dargo in rural Victoria, WEO is proving that sophisticated climate intelligence can be both accessible and actionable for the people who need it most.

But WEO's approach goes deeper than smart design. It embodies the Humanitech Principles in every decision, from putting communities at the centre to building transparent, collaborative tools that work for the long-term.

The lightbulb moment: Starting with the real need

Many innovations chase solutions before defining the problem. Imeshi flipped that approach entirely, spending time understanding who actually needs climate intelligence and what barriers keep them from using it.

The revelation was both simple and profound: "The people who need these tools most are not researchers in a lab. They're volunteers at the local fire shed, parents juggling kids on a scorching day or council workers deciding where to put the next patch of green."

This insight became WEO's foundation with the Dargo community. Volunteers can't spend hours learning how to use new software. Parents need information they can act on immediately. Council workers need tools that mesh with their existing processes. By designing for these real-world constraints first, WEO sidestepped the common trap of building sophisticated technology that sits unused on desktops.

When communities become co-creators

WEO's breakthrough came in two waves. First, city planners didn't just trial the platform – they committed to five- to ten-year partnerships, treating it as essential infrastructure rather than just another app.

Then came the ultimate validation. After winning the QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge, WEO partnered with Australian Red Cross and a rural community in regional Victoria, Australia, to refine their solution through real-world application. The collaboration elevated the platform to new heights: residents and volunteers enriched WEO's maps with hyperlocal intelligence that no satellite could capture.

Local knowledge flowed both ways. The community knew which roads flood first, where neighbours naturally gather in emergencies, how the landscape behaves in different seasons. This intelligence enriched WEO's platform, turning it from "WEO’s platform" into "the community's map”.

By consistently asking 'who might be excluded if we build this way?', WEO ensured the platform remained affordable and intuitive for communities with limited resources – exactly the people who often need climate intelligence most.

Accessibility as a competitive advantage

For Imeshi, accessibility isn't charity; it's smart business strategy. "If the solution isn't understandable and usable by the people most exposed — whether individual households or major city councils — then the technology has failed. And if it's priced out of reach, it's useless."

This philosophy has unlocked markets that competitors focused on well-funded institutions can't reach. More importantly, it creates the durable, decade-long partnerships that climate resilience actually requires. While others chase quarterly contracts, WEO builds infrastructure communities bet their futures on.

Making ethics practical

When asked about ethical innovation, Imeshi moves straight to specifics: building with transparency, reducing bias and keeping access for all at the centre. “Good intentions aren't enough; data can reinforce existing inequalities if left unchecked.”

WEO's approach addresses this head-on. Their systems are designed to serve every community equitably, not just those with the loudest voices or deepest pockets. By making transparency and fairness non-negotiable from day one, they've built trust that strengthens with every interaction.

Building resilience from the ground up

WEO's philosophy aligns with a core principle that drives Australian Red Cross: true resilience is built in everyday moments, not just crisis response. "Resilience is built in the ordinary, not just in emergencies," she explains. "It's in the shade of a single tree on a hot street, the way a culvert drains in a storm or how neighbours check in on each other. Small, everyday decisions add up to real protection."

This shared understanding transforms how climate technology can work. Rather than waiting for disasters to strike, WEO enables communities to build protective capacity through routine decisions—strengthening social connections, improving local infrastructure, and creating networks of care that activate long before any emergency sirens sound.

Imeshi's top tips for innovators

1. Start where the need is sharpest: Don't build for people like you. Go find the volunteer who has fifteen minutes to learn your tool, the parent managing three kids in extreme heat. Their constraints will force you to build something that actually works.
2. Design for instant understanding: If your solution needs a manual, you've missed the point. Real sophistication feels simple. Climate intelligence should be as intuitive as checking your weather app.
3. Build for decades, not demo days: When planners started signing 10-year contracts, I knew we weren't just building software – we were building infrastructure. Ask yourself: will communities bet their future on your solution?
4. Treat ethics as strategy: Transparency and accessibility aren't just nice values—they're competitive advantages. When we made our tools affordable for everyone, we suddenly had access to markets our competitors couldn't touch.
5. Look for compounding everyday gains: The biggest climate wins often hide in small, everyday decisions. Find those moments where a tiny improvement compounds into something transformative.

WEO proves that technology built with genuine care and community insight can empower people everywhere to build resilience before they need it. Their journey from startup to essential infrastructure offers a roadmap for any innovator serious about creating lasting impact.