How does a farmer benefit from the use of Copernicus Sentinel data? How much can a shipping company save by using this data when navigating the Baltic? Can civil protection agencies using satellite-based maps reduce the damages incurred by extensive floods? What are the associated environmental benefits and how are such cases replicated around Europe? These are some of the questions we try to answer in this 4-year long Sentinel Economic Benefits Study (SeBS) funded by ESA.

Led by EARSC, the study aims to understand and quantify the real-world benefits and value that the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation programme brings to both citizens and society. Rather than analysing vast quantities of macroeconomic data, the study takes a “bottom-up” approach to analyse and quantify how free and open Copernicus Sentinel data is driving value across Europe. SeBS takes the form of a series of case studies, focusing on interesting and innovative examples of how people and organisations are benefiting from the use of Sentinel data.

A value chain analysis is undertaken in each case, from service provider to final users, quantifying, where possible, the monetary, societal, and environmental benefits being realised at ground level. From flood management in Ireland to growing potatoes in Belgium to sea-ice navigation off the frigid coast of Greenland, SeBS has analysed and documented the value Sentinel data is adding to businesses and citizens alike in a range of contexts. These economic analyses are published regularly, covering a plethora of geographical locations and sectorial themes.

Alongside the main cases, parallel studies are being carried out by the “SEBS Analyst” (Dimitri). These studies tackle challenges not linked to the cases, such as examining the number of academic publications linked to Sentinel data, and reviewing the role that Sentinel data played in supporting the start-up ecosystem.