...that is considerably improving its value-proposition. As a direct consequence, the satellite EO industry is progressively moving from growth fed by orders from governmental and military organizations to one based on a more balanced mix of end-users, laying the groundwork for a decade of growth in both data and value-added-services (VAS) segments.

“Despite the budgetary situation of the traditional largest end-users in Europe and North America and the coming cuts to the “Enhanced View” program potentially totaling $130 million, EO satellite operators are rather optimistic, with some reason,” stated Stéphane Gounari, Analyst at NSR and author of the report. “As the use of satellite EO data became more reliable and flexible, commercial organizations now rely on EO for an increasing number of applications in every vertical (Living Resources, Energy & Natural Resources, Industrial and Services). However, revenues from Defense & Intelligence and Public Authorities verticals should not be considered as a lost cause as they are based on solid needs.”

As UAV-based EO rapidly improves its value proposition alongside satellite-based EO, they will increasingly compete in each market. With a developing choice of EO data sources, end-user source-agnosticism is also getting stronger, especially as the satellite EO data value is multiplied when combined with data from other satellites, other sources of EO data and other types of data. These trends, among others, point to a growth period associated with an intensification of the competition as the industry leaves the emerging phase of its lifecycle. This period of changes makes the identification of the appropriate Key Success Factors more important than ever.