EO Summit June 2025
Reflections from EO Summit 2025
The EO Summit brought together ~450 people, from over 25 countries.
Aravind Ravichandran summarises some key themes.
The Unsolved EO Platform Gap – an Opportunity for AI?
Despite advancements in EO data collection and analytics, there’s still a persistent gap in platforms that can seamlessly bridge raw EO data with actionable, domain-specific intelligence. Most platforms remain either too technical or too generic. This “platform gap” is not just a UX issue, it’s a systemic bottleneck for adoption.
The conference had several panelists mention that AI/ML, increasingly capable of contextual understanding and automated reasoning, provides a strong opportunity to build adaptive platforms that don’t just process pixels, but solve problems.
Building with Users vs Building for Users
Too much of the EO ecosystem still builds for users, not with them. The result: technically sophisticated tools that miss real-world workflows, decision cycles, and data literacy levels.
What we need is more embedded collaboration, where users shape products from the inside. The most impactful EO solutions going forward will emerge from long-term partnerships - not demos or trials, but co-creation.
The Underreported Significance of Public Investments in EO
Public funding remains the single largest driver of EO infrastructure, yet its impact is often invisible in commercial narratives. From the Landsat satellites to initiatives like NASA’s CSDA program, these investments de-risk the ecosystem, stimulate innovation, and anchor demand.
But they’re undervalued in ROI terms and under-leveraged for broader outcomes. It’s time to reframe public EO programs not as cost centers, but as foundational infrastructure for environmental, climate and economic resilience.
Moving Towards a Value-driven Model for EO Commercialisation
Commercial success in EO is too often measured in terms of data volume, satellite count, or number of tasking APIs. But users care about outcomes, not inputs.
We need to shift the focus from EO capabilities to the value they enable, whether it’s shortening response times to wildfires or improving insurance models. This value-first mindset requires closer integration with verticals, and new business models that align around shared outcomes, not just data access.
The Need for An Independent Advocacy Organization for EO
We need an independent organization dedicated to Earth observation in its entirety - from awareness and advocacy to market enablement and policy engagement, akin to The Planetary Society for space exploration.
Today, the EO sector is a fragmented landscape, not just in terms of companies, but also scientific, commercial, and non-profit initiatives spread across countries and regions with limited coordination.