The report by London Economics, commissioned by Innovate UK, considers the current and near-term potential value of satellite-derived EO capabilities to the UK government for civil and domestic purposes. The subsequent value to industry as a supplier of EO data and applications to the UK government is also investigated.
Satellite-derived Earth Observation (EO) concerns the gathering of information about the planet’s physical, chemical and biological systems via satellite-based platforms. This information provides inputs into wider geospatial solutions for users across the public domain. The total spend on EO by government is significant – estimated at GBP 1.2 billion between 2014 and 2020, equivalent to annual average spending of GBP 175 million. The intention of this value study was to provide evidence for the co-ordination of EO exploitation across government.
The study estimated the annual economic value of EO across the nine specified domestic civil use cases in the UK in 2018, and the potential value by 2020. The case studies examined were: Agriculture, Atmosphere, Built Environment, Coastal, Forestry, Flooding, Maritime, Meteorology and Transport.
Value is presented in terms of what EO capabilities offer the government over alternative methods within the use cases. The value relates to operational cost savings, exceptional costs avoidance, better policy decisions and regulation, and catalytic benefits (to wider government, economy, and society) for the identified EO use. Evidence for the study was sourced from literature and consultations with more than 60 stakeholders. However, due to the constraints of this availability of evidence the authors emphasise that the true use, value and potential of satellite-derived EO within the UK government may be much greater than presented in the report.
The report highlights ongoing developments in EO data, application innovation and the emergence of other enabling technologies that are driving the potential for EO use and its associated value. Examples of advances in imagery include higher spatial and temporal resolution, multi/hyper-spectral images, increasing data frequency, video imaging, enhanced SAR capabilities, and improvements in atmospheric, weather, and climate data. Other developments in complementary EO data sources (e.g. drones) and technologies that will improve the storage, processing, analysis and application of EO data (e.g. cloud-based computing, big data analytics and artificial intelligence).
The study finds that UK innovation in EO-based applications is growing partly due to the free availability of Sentinel data. New commercial EO applications are being supported by research and development grants designed for use both in the UK and abroad.
The values associated with EO supporting better policy making and regulation, and enhancing operational productivity, are likely to be significant, but are not quantifiable.
A selection of key findings from the report are as follows: