Is the Remote Sensing Market an Urban Legend?

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Pixalytics Ltd Specialises in the transition of academic knowledge to commercial opportunity and public understanding. http://www.pixalytics.com

Is the remote sensing market an urban legend?

The remote sensing/Earth observation (EO) market is like the Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster - there are plenty of people out there who tell you it exists, but very few companies have seen it with their own eyes!

We work in a fast growing and expanding industry, at least according to the myriad of reports that regularly drop into our inboxes. For example, over the last few weeks we’ve had press releases such as :-

Global Satellite-based Earth Observation Market 2016-2020, by Research and Markets published in February, forecast that this market will grow by around 14% a year for the next four years. Satellite Remote Sensing Market to 2020 - Global Strategic Analysis by Research and Markets published in February, states that the global market for remote sensing products should reach $13.8 billion by 2021. Aerial Imaging Market Size By Application Industry Outlook Report 2015 – 2022 by Global Market Insights, Inc indicated in March that this market will be valued at over $2.64 Billion by 2022

With all this growth everything in the remote sensing/EO industry is fantastic, right? Well, no actually! Despite the report announcements, lots of companies within the industry are struggling to locate this valuable market.

Historically, a lot of funding was provided by governments and space agencies in the form of grants or tenders to promote the use, and uptake, of EO data, which enabled companies to develop and grow. Whilst such sources of funding are still available; the maturing of the industry coupled with the global economic slowdown is starting to constrict this revenue stream, forcing more and more EO companies out in the commercial world looking for the fabled billion dollar market. This development is currently being supported by venture capital as the growth forecasts are encouraging investment, but how many of these companies will be able to transition into profit making businesses?

The Holy Grail for everyone is a reliable, consistent and expanding market for EO products and services, something that few businesses in our sector have successfully found. There are a variety of reasons why the market feels like an urban legend, including:

Lack of knowledge on the products wanted leading to supplier led, rather than consumer led, product development. Lack of an existing market meaning that EO companies need to work hard on advertising to tell possible customers they exist and the benefits they can offer.

Copyright SpatiallyScientific Ltd Pixalytics Ltd Specialises in the transition of academic knowledge to commercial opportunity and public understanding. http://www.pixalytics.com

Monopolistic behaviour of governments/space agencies. These bodies have spent large sums to launch satellites and need to demonstrate value for money. For example, the European Commission’s Copernicus Programme recently announced its intention to develop agriculture products from Sentinel data. Rather than developing the market, this could potentially destroy the market for existing EO companies.

It’s clear that to get proof of a remote sensing/EO market, companies need to develop value for money products that customers want, demonstrate the benefits of satellite data as an information source and stand out from the other legend hunters!

Here at Pixalytics we’re in the process of packing our data, securing our satellite links and checking our geo-referenced maps, ready to set out onto our journey in search of the fabled market. To date, our businesses has focussed on bespoke specialised products for individual customers and now we’re also hoping to develop more standard products that can be processed on demand, or made available from a pre-processed archive.

Of course we don’t have all the answers of where to find the customers, what the right products are or the best way of making letting people know we exist and we can help them. Although having seen the cost of these industry reports, we’re starting to think that writing, and selling, remote sensing/EO market reports is where the real money is!

Over the next few months, we’ll use this blog to tell you about our journey, the mistakes we make and what we learn. As we get a glimpses into the market we’ll put it up here, although it might be grainy and indistinguishable – but then aren’t all urban legend pictures!