©Vaitkus
Dr. Gediminas Vaitkus is the owner of Geomatrix UAB, a small Lithuanian company that has successfully participated in the development of Copernicus core services. It specialises in automated geospatial data processing. Now that the Sentinels are being launched, we asked Dr. Vaitkus about his point of view on the prospects the Sentinels bring for small and medium businesses.
©Nereus
The much-debated topic of how to ensure SMEs make the most of public investments in space, along big industry, has been a hot one for both countries with an established space industry who aim to promote their SMEs, and for "new entrants". Arguably, the latter stand to gain most from the development of satellite services, provided they also look after demand. Puglia's model may provide some useful lessons for both.