SatSummit is an event that gathers leaders in the satellite industry and experts in global development for 2 days of presentations and in-depth conversations on solving the world’s most critical development challenges with satellite data.
From climate change to population growth to natural resource availability, earth observation data offers insights into today’s biggest global issues.
This year we were proud sponsors of the event with our Chief Growth Officer, Pascal van Dalen, in attendance and participating in a panel and lightning talk. We caught up with Pascal on his return from Washington, DC for his thoughts and insights on the event.
What attracted Picterra to SatSummit?
SatSummit is a unique event that convenes leaders from across the satellite industry, including new and established imagery providers (e.g., our partners Maxar, Planet, SkyFi, BlackSky), software and analytics companies (e.g., Azavea, Satelligence), open-source initiatives (e.g., OpenStreetMap), and development experts leveraging satellite data to solve global challenges (e.g., World Bank, USAID).
Our mission at Picterra is to boost geospatial intelligence mass adoption in the enterprise. We want to ‘geo-enable’ every company in the world within the next decade and ensure that the use of geospatial data is embedded within their DNA. By bringing the entire ecosystem together at SatSummit we can collectively share ideas and resources to make this vision a reality and help to tackle big issues such as climate change, deforestation, and threats to biodiversity.
The satellite sector has evolved massively since the last SatSummit back in 2018 and we were excited to meet new players and discover new capabilities.
What were the main themes of the event?
As one of the main driving forces behind SatSummit, Jubal Harpster has always envisaged the event as an opportunity to create urgency by using geospatial data for humanity’s ‘greater good’.
That was certainly true of this year’s event with a palpable sense of urgency on display from the many stakeholders and players across the industry. There were many discussions exploring opportunities for earth data to contribute to better outcomes for the most vulnerable. This even included live on-site mapping opportunities to support natural disaster response efforts.
Thanks for sharing @sat_summit
Timely mapping opportunity in light of #HurricaneIan ⬇️ https://t.co/xuRSG5YzxQ
— OpenStreetMap US (@OpenStreetMapUS) September 29, 2022
Another important theme that ran through the event was how to bring this sense into a business context and be able to understand the importance & return on investment (ROI) of using satellite imagery. On our blog, we recently discussed the fact that climate risk equates to investment risk considering 50% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) is dependent on nature and biodiversity.
What were some of your event highlights?
One of the highlights of the event for me was the panel discussion on ‘EO in the C suite’. It provided a glimpse into how large organizations make major policy decisions backed by EO data.
Moderated by Mike Spaeth (Head of ESG Earth Intelligence at Maxar) the panel heard insight on this topic from Chelsey Walden-Schreiner, PhD (Geospatial Scientist at Patrick J. McGovern Foundation), Vivek Sakhrani, PhD (Head of Applied Data Science at AtlasAI), Carrie Stokes (Director of the GeoCenter at USAID), and Andrew Wilcox (Business Operations Sustainability Team, Digital Programs Lead at Unilever). As a company that can really have an impact in this area, it was particularly interesting to hear about Unilever’s rollout of a planetary-scale geospatial platform to reimagine the future of sustainable sourcing. Mike provided more in his overview:
Another highlight was participating in a panel discussion on forest monitoring which has become somewhat of the flagship remote-sensing-for-good use case. I was honored to share the panel with Francis Gassert (Strategy and Impact Lead at Vizzuality), Laura Duncanson (Assistant Professor at University of Maryland), Fred Stolle, PhD (Deputy Director of Forest at World Resources Institute), Rens Masselink, PhD (Head of R&D at Satelligence), and Cassidy Rankine, PhD (Planet Labs Account Executive at Planet). We discussed a range of topics including biomass/carbon monitoring, plantation forest or forest type identification, and custom applications. The discussion also featured the business, policy, and regulatory drivers for forest monitoring, and the gap between that and the current reality.
Alongside the panel I also presented a lightning talk on how to geo-enable organizations with MLOps – many thanks to those who attended and asked some great questions!
Much has been said about the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the earth observation sector and the improvements that need to be made. Indeed during the summit, there was a roundtable discussion on the important work that needs to be done in this area. That’s why it was so encouraging to see an all-female lineup during the provider’s panel. The panel of leaders in public and commercial imagery providers included Asimina Syriou (Business Applications & Partnerships Engineer at European Space Agency), Argyro Kavvada, PhD (Program Manager for Earth Sciences Division’s Sustainable Development Goals at NASA), Amanda Marchetti (Director of Analytic Products at BlackSky), Caitlin Kontgis, PhD (VP Go-to-Market at Satellogic), Monica Weber (Senior Customer Success Manager at Planet Federal), and was moderated by Rhiannan Price (Principal Consultant and Managing Director at DevGlobal).
Any final thoughts?
All that remains to say is thank you to the organizers, fellow speakers, and attendees for such an enlightening and fun couple of days. A special thank you goes to hosts Cyient, DevGlobal, and Development Seed, the last of whom threw a great after-party in their beautiful Washington DC office. I’m already looking forward to next year’s SatSummit and continuing the constructive conversations with those in attendance.
