Design engineering for climate & civic tech

We make sense of complex systems and build the software to change them.

WHAT WE DO

We bring together the research and design that make complex systems easy to understand, and the software engineering that turns that understanding into tools people actually use.

Research & systems design

We map how the data, the people, and the constraints fit together to find the greatest opportunity for impact.

Product & software development

We embed with your domain experts to build and ship real software that works within your existing processes.

Data visualization & communication

We make complex data into something anyone can take in at a glance, trust, and act on.

WHAT WE BUILT

We work at the intersection between complex data and human experience; moving into unfamiliar problems quickly and working across the usual divides.

A platform for meteorologists calibrating triggers for drought anticipatory action.

The Problem

Droughts are usually visible in seasonal forecasts months before they take hold. But governments still have to decide when to release aid before the drought arrives. This threshold is called a trigger, and calibrating it is a complex technical decision that only about a third of the countries facing drought currently understand.

The Intervention

Ground State is an open-source platform for calibrating and monitoring those triggers, built with Mozambique's National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) and the World Food Programme. It carries a national team through the various phases of the drought year.

Created in partnership with the World Food Programme and the government of Mozambique.

WHO WE ARE

We've built products and systems at some of the most rigorous organizations in tech, consulting, and the public sector, where the problems are complex and precision is a necessity.

Mitul Iyengar

Co-founder

Luke Fiorante

Co-founder

Mitul brings a decade in product design and research across Spotify, McKinsey & Company, and the UN, designing data tools that range from artist-facing products used at global scale to systems that turn risk data into proactive policy.

Master in Design Engineering, Harvard University

BFA in Visual Communication Design, SAIC

Luke brings a decade in software engineering across Google, Waymo, and NASA JPL, building tools that range from consumer products at planetary scale to operations at interplanetary scale for the Mars Perseverance rover.

Master in Design Engineering, Harvard University

BSc in Computer Science, Brown University

Mitul Iyengar

Co-founder

Master in Design Engineering, Harvard University

BFA in Visual Communication Design, SAIC

Luke Fiorante

Co-founder

Master in Design Engineering, Harvard University

BSc in Computer Science, Brown University

WORK WITH US

We bring that rigor without the bureaucracy; a small team that moves fast, works across disciplines, and tends to land on the solution that wasn't obvious.