Independent report

Investigating UK public sector demand for Earth Observation technology - Executive Summary

Published 16 June 2022

Earth observation (EO), particularly that collected from satellites, is a fundamental source of location data used by society today. It provides information about our planet at a frequency and coverage that is simply not possible from any other source. Currently EO data is used across the UK public sector for a range of operational purposes, from environmental monitoring to emergency incident response. On a global scale it is essential for climate monitoring. EO data has the potential to offer significant additional value for the UK public sector.

A 2018 London Economics Study estimated an average annualised benefit for the UK of £1bn from Satellite- derived Earth Observation across nine key civilian use areas.^{[footnote 1]} This estimate includes £64m per year of direct operational value to the government.

Driven by new emerging technologies and increased technological capability, the EO imagery and services markets are rapidly developing in terms of imaging and processing capabilities and service models. This is reducing the barriers to entry for use of EO data, creating new opportunities for the public sector to unlock additional value for the UK taxpayer through use of this technology.

The Study

This study, jointly funded by the Geospatial Commission and Satellite Applications Catapult aims to understand what the biggest value opportunities are. It identifies and describes current and potential uses of EO data across the UK public sector and describes how EO data can be better leveraged to realise greater value.

The summary report presents evidence across two sections:

1. Characterising EO use across the public sector – identifying common themes from stakeholder engagement and summarising organisational EO maturity

2. Opportunities and recommendations

The study is based on a multi-stage research process, using desk-based research and UK public sector stakeholder engagement, including workshops and interviews to identify public sector uses of EO data. All the use cases discussed are owned and delivered by UK public sector organisations. This study does not attempt to detail sponsorship activities (i.e., of academic research) or provide specific insight into the commercial market. These, however, remain key drivers of innovation and demand, and should be considered as part of wider policymaking.

EO Maturity across the public sector

The study identified 300 UK public sector organisations, of which 125 were current or potential users of EO data. Across these 125 organisations, 131 active use cases were captured, of which 62 were categorised as operational and 74 as exploratory. The 125 organisations identified have been classified according to their ‘maturity’ (experience or expertise) in EO data use.

The most mature users of EO data are those organisations with a longstanding requirement that can only be met through the frequency, and coverage offered by satellite data, e.g., Ministry of Defence, Rural Payments Agency, and the Met Office. These organisations have invested significantly in developing their in-house capabilities and are therefore well positioned to take advantage of the market developments to support their core requirements. This explicit requirement has enabled them to develop and implement effective business cases for procuring commercial high-resolution EO data. However, mature users are a minority within the wider UK public sector.

Current and evolving demand for commercial high-resolution EO data underpins 30% of the use cases. This 30% does not include many of the emerging use cases in, future agricultural systems and land management schemes, achieving Net Zero, national climate reporting, and sustainable finance where commercial EO data and services are likely to be critical to their effective implementation.

The largest group identified were organisations with a moderate and growing EO maturity that can utilise EO to improve the efficiency of their operations. Within this group, maturity has accelerated fastest in organisations that have actively invested in embedding day-to-day use of this data across disparate policy areas. This is most notable in Defra’s EO Centre of Excellence and the Living Wales programme, both of which are utilising open EO data provided under the Copernicus programme. For example, Defra has invested in a data service that processes the raw, open data provided under the European Commission’s Copernicus Programmes into Analysis Ready Data (ARD) to provide a common operating view across Defra group organisations/agencies and reducing the need for individual Defra agencies to use specialist tools and expertise to use the data. This ARD has the potential to underpin 88 of the use cases identified across 32 UK public sector organisations.

The lowest levels of maturity were found within those organisations that have limited capacity to invest in considering the opportunities that EO offers within their organisation. For example, in emerging policy areas such as net zero, greenhouse gas inventorying and sub-national levelling-up analysis, there is a general belief that EO has a clear role to play in supporting solutions to these policy challenges, but this has yet to be explored. There were also a number of lower EO maturity organisations who faced challenges with technical feasibility of implementing EO within their operations.

Barriers to progression

Several common challenges were identified through the interviews. Some of these were universal across all organisations, and some were common across organisations at similar levels of maturity.

The universal challenges are interlinked and progressive, including:

• Understanding of tool and platform capability – There is evidence that the capabilities of new data systems are either unknown or may be misinterpreted by end users.

• Gauging technological possibilities - There is limited awareness of maturing technical developments in the wider EO sector that might enable improved integration of EO into the broader UK public sector geospatial landscape.

• Establishing a case for investment – Exploring technological feasibility was consistently considered less challenging than establishing a robust case for investment in EO data and technology.

• High data cost – In the majority of stakeholder interviews the primary blocker to adoption of high-resolution commercial EO procurement was perceived high data cost. A range of high-resolution commercial EO data trials are being undertaken across the UK public sector with significant overlap in suppliers, use cases, technical approaches, and geographic coverage of operational scope.

For users with higher EO maturity, there are a range of established means for procuring EO data and services from the market. The interviews identified a number of specific challenges associated with UK public sector use of commercial EO data which were:

• End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) considerations - A key blocker identified for wider use of data procured under existing contracts is uncertainty of restrictions around licensing agreements and practicalities of data sharing.

• Ensuring value for money procuring independently - Due to the nascency of the UK public sector requirements for EO, there is a concern about how public sector organisations can ensure that they are getting value for money through their procurements of commercial data in the absence of benchmarking as is often the case for more developed products and services.

• Perception of the inability for appropriate data sharing – Whilst the study confirmed that ensuring protection of security sensitivities is a clear requirement for any coordinated access mechanism, no evidence was found to indicate this being a blocker in practice. Rather the counterfactual was the case with the potential exposure of UK foreign policy interests from patterns of requirements being overseen by commercial operator being a greater risk and one that was manifesting itself today.

Within the group of organisations with moderate and growing EO maturity, the single biggest challenge in realising greater benefits from EO was the lack of efficient mechanisms for sharing experiences and lessons learnt from trial/proof of concept initiatives across organisational boundaries. This can make it difficult to make investment cases to secure funding.

Opportunities & Recommendations

Based on the key findings summarised above, the report draws out three key opportunity areas and recommendations for the UK public sector to consider that will realise greater value from EO data:

1.Explore how current UK public sector EO data services can evolve and be positioned to efficiently meet growing demand: The introduction of EO data services has significantly reduced the barriers to use of openly available EO data for UK public sector bodies that access them (e.g., EO data from the Copernicus Programme). Where data services have been established (particularly those that process raw data to analysis-ready data (ARD) e.g., Defra EO Data Service (EODS), there are opportunities for further evolution and standardisation of the services across organisations and opportunities to unlock increased value. This might include simplified access, access to an increased number of data sources as well as value added data products. This would encourage skills growth and diversification, promote greater use of the data, reduce overheads from duplicate services, and ensure maximum value for money is derived from these services.

2.Assess the investment case for a coordinated procurement mechanism for commercial EO data to meet current and emerging policy requirements: There is established demand in the UK public sector for very high-resolution commercial EO data. In several cases, access to this data has already been piloted, with positive results. Broader engagement with this data across the UK public sector is likely to result in increased efficiency in existing EO use cases, and new insights to inform emerging use cases. However, there are significant barriers to broader adoption, including market understanding, licensing considerations, and availability of in-house skills and expertise to both procure and then use the data. Furthermore, there is already a risk of siloed duplicated procurement, where different organisations are purchasing similar products, creating market, spend, resource and skill inefficiencies. The UK public sector should consider mechanisms to ensure that it is aware of the opportunity and realises the best value for money in its procurement and use of this data.  A coordinated procurement approach would have the additional benefit of helping to identify the gaps within commercial offerings in the market to help inform considerations of the capability requirements of any future UK sovereign missions.

3.Enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration between UK public sector bodies to encourage greater uptake of data amongst those organisations with a lesser and moderate EO maturity: Improving exchange of expertise and insight across the UK public sector is one of the most cost-efficient means of strengthening understanding and use of EO data. Several groups already exist to this end and are very successful in their promotion of knowledge sharing. To build on this success, further collaboration can be pursued within and between these groups, raising awareness more widely of the potential of access to open and commercial EO data, and the variety and maturity of use cases across the UK public sector. Collaboration with and alignment to technology, research and innovation activity (e.g., Catapults, KTN, Research Councils) should also be sought. Taking such a targeted approach would help the UK public sector reduce duplication, support investment, and drive faster and more efficient delivery of policy priorities, particularly in emerging policy areas such as Net Zero and Levelling Up.

Acknowledgements

The study was funded collaboratively by Geospatial Commission and Satellite Applications Catapult and delivered by a team of staff from both organisations over the course of the latter half of 2021.

This report builds on the well-established and continuing work of stakeholder organisations and individuals across the public and private sectors who have set the foundations for understanding and evaluating use of Earth Observation across the UK public sector.

We are particularly grateful for the time of stakeholders across the UK public sector who attended the interviews and workshops. The content of this report is derived from their insights captured through interview(s) and associated exchanges.

Stakeholder organisations engaged throughout the study:

Broxtowe Borough Council

Defence Geographic Centre

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy - Greenhouse Gas Inventory team

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – Chief Scientific Adviser’s Office

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs - Defra Digital DDTS

Environment Agency

East Dunbartonshire Council

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office / Office for National Statistics Data Science Campus

Geospatial Commission

Hampshire County Council

Home Office

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Living Wales

Met Office

Ministry of Defence

Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment

National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence

Natural England

Natural Resources Wales

Ordnance Survey

Terrestrial Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment

Rugby Borough Council

Rural Payments Agency

North Yorkshire Police

Scottish Government

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service

UK Health Security Agency

UK Hydrographic Office

UK Space Agency

UK Space Command, Royal Air Force

Welsh Government

1. These were:  Agriculture, Atmosphere, Built Environment, Coastal, Flooding, Forestry, Maritime, Meteorology and Transport. ↩