Using Technology and Citizen Groundtruthing to Address Climate Change Impacts and Improve Utility Disaster Response with ISeeChange's Julia Kumari Drapkin

In this Interview, we meet Julia Kumari Drapkin who is the Founder and CEO of ISeeChange, a Climate Technology Company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. ISeeChange empowers cities, utilities, and infrastructure managers to transition from reactive, complaint-based systems to proactive, predictive approaches by integrating community insights with climate data.

ONE-LINER:

"We are injecting insights into the infrastructure planning process to ensure that climate risks and community needs are front and center."

Pitch/Reverse Pitch:

Don’t miss Julia's Pitch for ISeeChange, which you can find on the video from [6:54] to [17:20].

Discussion:

After the pitch, we discuss:

• The role of ISeeChange in bridging the gap between top-down infrastructure solutions and the on-the-ground realities of climate impacts, especially in vulnerable communities.
• Case studies where ISeeChange’s platform has helped cities like Miami and New Orleans secure millions in infrastructure funding by using citizen-generated data to validate and prioritize stormwater projects.
• The importance of involving community members in data collection and decision-making to ensure that infrastructure solutions are equitable and effective.

Insights:

At [19:25], Julia emphasizes the critical need for integrating local, ground-truth data into infrastructure planning, especially as climate change intensifies.

Advice:

At [28:12], Julia advises startups to focus on thorough customer discovery and to build solutions based on real, demonstrated needs rather than assumptions.