Roxane Bandini-Maeder and Alex, her business partner and husband, visited friends in Tasmania in late 2017.

Being from Switzerland they were comfortable with the look of the place: mountains and water, calm cities, charming towns.

But for a couple of entrepreneurs, there was something else in the air. “It seems like second nature for Tasmanians to help and look after each other,” Roxane says. “Tasmanians are genuine and tolerant.”

Their company, Geoneon, offers a novel approach  to assess infrastructure exposure to natural disasters, based on geospatial data analytics. They are geoscientists, and here in Tasmania they have found others who share their passion and their unique approach. “We believe that Tasmania is one of the next hotspots for data scientists. Tasmania has a growing data scientist community and the potential for affordable, renewable energy, necessary for data centres.”

Apart from their work, Roxane and Alex have discovered the culture they need to thrive, both as business people and as a family. “We share some of the key values of Tasmanians, such as humility, fairness, collaboration and consistency. And we think Tasmania is one of the best places in the world to live and to grow a family. We love the relaxed lifestyle centered towards family, friends and nature. Hobart, where we are based, is probably one of the only capital cities in the western world where you walk in the street and people smile at you.”

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