[SatNews] In 2012/2013, The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) conducted a survey to map the state and health of the companies providing EO services in Europe.
Results can be found at this link (http://earsc.org/library/). The study provided some essential lines to understand the complexity of the Earth Observation (EO) industry.
(i) EUROPEAN INDUSTRY: We are now updating the Industry Survey. The first part has been launched and companies should have received an invitation to complete the core survey through an on-line questionnaire. The survey has a real foundation and constructive goals for all the companies engaged in EO services.
(ii) PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS: As part of the update, EARSC has also launched a dedicated survey to extend the coverage to understand wider employment in the sector to include public sector organisations (PSB’s) generating or using geospatial information products. According to the Impact Assessment published by the European Commission in 2013, Copernicus will create 9,000 direct jobs in the downstream sector. The EARSC survey will show the impact on the private sector but Copernicus is primarily a public programme with its first objective to provide public policy makers with information. Consequently, we are extending our survey to look at the benefits which Copernicus will bring to the public sector in terms of access to information, effectiveness and of course employment. This dedicated questions aim to complete the information which will help understand the full impact of the Copernicus program. Many public bodies have a responsibility to supply their governments with the appropriate information for policy decisionmaking. Given the considerable number of persons engaged in this activity throughout Europe, it is important to understand the scale and scope of the role. With a combined picture of the private and the public sector service providers, a better understanding of the impact Copernicus is having in Europe and how future policies may be implemented can be developed.
(iii) INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY: An understanding of the industry and how it operates is important in order to take the right policy decisions. Today, no information exists on the global industry. This survey will also address companies world-wide to try to understand how much they benefit from access to the Sentinel data.
Access the European Industry Survey at this direct infolink...
Access the Public Sector Oganizations Survey at this direct infolink...
Access the International Industry Survey at this direct link...
EARSC invites European and International Companies and Public Sector Institutions to complete the questionnaire. The survey will be online and controlled through survey monkey as we did in previous occasion. Open collectors will generate a dedicated link codes per entry. Once past the first page, organizations can go right through the survey and can return to complete the survey on several visits. For further information on both surveys (Industry European/International and Public Sector Institutions), please contact Mrs. Mónica Miguel-Lago (EARSC executive secretary) at secretariat@earsc.org. The individual results will be kept confidential and only collective, analyzed results will be published. A full report will be generated and will be publicly available.
"EARSC is a non-profit-making organisation created in 1989 with the mission to foster the development of European Geo-Information Service Industry. Our main objective is to stimulate a sustainable market for geo-information services using EO data."