The start-up using AI to predict climate hazards

Finding a memorable name for your start-up can be inspired by many things – including, it turns out, the discovery of a human corpse in a melting glacier.

Ötzi, the European mummy, was found by hikers in the Ötztal Alps on the Italian-Austrian border during 1991 when the summer heat melted the ice that had been covering him. Now, Ötzi is also the name of an environmental AI company set up by Omer Nivron, a postdoctoral researcher here, and former PhD student Andrei Iliescu. 

Its mission is to improve how climate risks are anticipated and managed. Omer and his colleagues are developing a model that combines the study of Physics with the power of AI to deliver a pipeline of fast, accurate and cost-effective predictions of climate hazards such as heatwaves, floods, droughts, hailstorms and wildfires.

By improving estimates of where and when these events will occur, they hope that communities, infrastructure and ecosystems will be better predicted.

And this is much needed, Omer says. "It's really alarming how much is changing around the world because of the climate crisis – and equally alarming how little is still being done to address it. We want to encourage improved climate change adaptations that will have positive impacts for society."

This can help in a number of areas, including helping governments and businesses to invest more effectively in flood defences, heat warning systems or more heat-resilient buildings that better protect their occupants from rising temperatures. They also include helping insurers – a key target market for the new start-up – to cover vulnerable areas.

Already winning awards
Though it's early days for the venture, Ötzi is already receiving significant recognition. It recently won the £20,000 top prize in a flagship competition run by the University of Cambridge, the Postdoc Venture Creation Challenge. This exists to help postdocs start transforming their research into real world business ventures.

It's alarming how much is changing because of the climate crisis – and how little is still being done to address it.

Omer Nivron

The judges chose Ötzi "for creating a model that is more accurate, cheaper to produce, and quicker to run than anything else on the market." They were also impressed by the company's ability "to demonstrate that the insurance market it's targeting is in desperate need of a product like this that will save them money, bring down premiums and help countries most impacted by climate change to have more accurate modelling."

Ötzi has also made it to the final of the 2026 Trinity Bradfield Prize, taking place at the end of January. This competition aims to help young Cambridge University scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs start companies that can turn their ideas and inventions into products. Omer is currently preparing his pitch for the final, which could win him an additional £10,000 in funding and introduce him to a network of mentors and investors.

Ötzi also has support from colleagues here in the Department, and beyond. Omer's supervisor, Dr Damon Wischik, is now one of two scientific advisors to Ötzi, alongside Emily Shuckburgh, Professor of Environmental Data Science here (and the newly appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero).

Ötzi grew out of Omer's PhD research on correcting biases in climate models by matching their outputs with the data supplied by real world climate observations. In this, he was using information on physical climate variables (such as temperatures and rainfall) and considering how they and other factors can combine to create heatwaves, floods or droughts.

Making high-quality climate risk information available to those who need it most
From the outset, he hoped that such work would bring positive benefits, particularly to countries in the global south. But he soon realised the potential impact was much broader, with important potential users including governments, insurers and reinsurers, and energy companies across the globe.

"I started asking why they would care, how they would use this information, and how it would change people's lives on the ground," Omer explains. "I discovered that currently billions of dollars of funding are allocated – for example, to infrastructure projects – based on decisions made not on the best science available, but using antiquated solutions. That's when I saw an opportunity."

We want to encourage improved climate change adaptations that will have positive impacts for society.

Omer Nivron

Ötzi is already attracting interest from potential customers and investors. It's carrying out a pilot with Pinepeak, a spin-out from Cambridge University's Engineering Department, to develop long-term wildfire statistics, including estimates of how many wildfires may occur over the next decade, and how they may spread.

There's also growing interest in using Ötzi's models to estimated future heat-related death rates in African countries. And that would align with a core aim of the company – accessibility. "Many existing products are prohibitively expensive, particularly for lower-income countries," Omer says.

"We want to change that by making high-quality climate risk information available to those who need it most."