A New Report from EUSPA Outlines the Key Trends in Earth Observation Industry for Infrastructure

The EO value-added services market is considerably larger and accumulated globally a total of €2.2 bn in 2021 within the same scope of market segments. From 2021, the EO value-added services market will see a CAGR of 6.8%, resulting in €4.7 bn total revenues by 2031. 

Together US and European companies hold over 83% of the global market, each accountable for over 40%. The remaining market is distributed around the rest of the world. Chinese companies accounts for 6% of the market, while Canada and Japan generate respectively 4% and 3% of global revenue.

As to what concerns the infrastructure sector, the report outlines that EO supports the various stages of the infrastructure life cycle, from site selection to post-construction infrastructure health monitoring. Thanks to its capacity to deliver information on risk exposure and future impacts of climate change, EO should increasingly contribute to the design of more resilient and sustainable infrastructures.

Climate neutrality has become a  major global goal. In this regard, Europe aspires to become the  first continent to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Achieving this will require a  wide range of  actions that reduce the environmental footprint of infrastructure and strengthen its climate resilience. Thanks to its capacity to provide historical data on risk exposure and projections on the future impacts of climate change, EO supports site selection as well as the design of  more resilient infrastructure. Satellite-based imagery also supports the  monitoring of  construction operations and the  long-term monitoring of  infrastructure health and environmental impact.

In particular, a third of all the revenues generated by the Earth Observation industry for the infrastructure segment, come from the site selection and planning phase. Another third, come from monitoring infrastructure and the risks coming from the surrounding nature, environment and human activities. Finally, 17% of all EO activities for infrastructure is generated for assessing the environmental impact of infrastructure on the territory.

A survey made by EARSC in 2021**, shows that the main barriers to the adoption of EO are related to the low level of knowledge and awareness of the customers, as well as to the difficulty to use Earth Observation data to solve business challenges alone, or in combination with other data.