Market Trends of France Satellite-based Earth Observation Industry
Agriculture Segment is Anticipated to Witness Significant Growth
- The agriculture sector in France is expected to witness substantial adoption of satellite-based earth observation solutions and services in the coming years. Modern farming relies on Earth Observation data and information to restore soil health, sustain nutrient management, and preserve biodiversity. A significant trend in the field is the increased use of Earth Observation as an input for smart analytics for optimizing agri-tech solutions.
- Further, the country's agriculture sector has witnessed significant adoption of digital technologies owing to the emergence of AgTech startups and the growing use of IoT in farm operations in the past few years and is actively contributing to the country's GDP.
- The use of digital technologies in farm management and the agricultural sector is helping to address several farm- and sector-level challenges for farmers, agricultural cooperatives, key decision-makers, and governments in France. EO allows farmers to remotely monitor the performance of their crops and reduce their usage of inputs such as fertilizers. Additionally, EO provides huge amounts of rich data that public authorities and economists can use to inform their analysis and decision-making better. Such factors are further analyzed to influence the growth of the agriculture segment in the coming years.
- The government in the country is also encouraging the use of digital technology in the agriculture sector and launching initiatives and funds, which is expected to positively impact the demand for EO data in the coming years. For instance, in January 2023, France launched the Priority Research Program and Equipment (PEPR) on agroecology and digital technology. The program aims to accelerate the agroecological transition in the country's agriculture sector. French government financed the program with EUR 65 million (USD 71M) as part of France 2030.
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The Growth in the French Government’s investment in the space sector
- The country has a dynamic, innovative, and diversified space ecosystem largely supported by government investments. In the past few years, various leading market vendors such as Airbus Defence and Space leveraged the French government's investment to build earth observation satellites. At the national level, through its space agency, the National Centre of Space Studies (CNES), the country is making significant investments to strengthen the space sector, which in turn offers growth opportunities for the satellite-based earth observation market in the country.
- The French government is recognizing the importance of the space sector and continuously heavily investing, thus also driving the studied market. For instance, in September 2022, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced that the French government planned to allocate more than USD 9 billion to space activities over the next three years, which is Than increase of about 25% over the past three years.
- Further, the French government is also significantly investing in European Space Agency programs, thus further supporting France as well as the European sector. This is expected to positively influence the market growth in the coming years to expand Earth observation data's application in various fields. For instance, according to the data from ESA, in 2022, France will contribute over USD 1.1 billion to the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the mission of ESA in space exploration.
- Additionally, various benefits associated with the earth observation data for various economic sectors such as agriculture, defense, Climate Services, Energy, and Raw Material and Infrastructure are anticipated to attract investments from the French government in the earth observation sector in the coming years, thus positively impacting the market growth. For instance, EO supports the various stages of the infrastructure life cycle, from site selection to post-construction infrastructure health monitoring.
