Theme: Digitalisation
Industry Adoption: ⚫ ⚫ ⚪ ⚪ Early Adopters
Impact: ⚫ ⚫ ⚪ Significant

As consumers’ tracking needs evolve, earth observation data presents new opportunities for monitoring assets and infrastructure. By integrating satellite-based technologies such as imagery, radar, GPS, and communication systems, the trend enables real-time visibility across supply chains. For logistics, tracking has expanded beyond vessels to include individual containers, accommodating the growing demand for detailed, seamless logistics.

Adoption in logistics is emerging, with early corporate and academic engagement. Between 2019 and 2023, 200 patents were filed, with 30 considered groundbreaking, reflecting a steady level of innovation. C-Suite mentions slightly decreased from about 10 in 2022 to 5 in 2024, while academic research shows initial cautious engagement, with around 100 publications exploring the field. Together, these figures depict a trend still in early industry adoption but with considerable potential.

What are the opportunities?

Earth observation data enhances route optimisation, inventory management, and supply chain visibility through connected sensors and smart devices. Local data processing reduces latency, improving reliability in time-sensitive operations.

What are the challenges?

The trend has limited logistics use-cases so far, relying on edge computing and sensor data. Broader implementation will depend on scaling these technologies and expanding their applications within logistics processes.

Sources:

• Statista (2024).
• Survey among 500+ global logistics decision makers across various industries, conducted by Statista for Maersk (Q4 2024).
• In-depth interviews with global industry experts, academia, and futurists.
• Unstructured web sources with more than 10,000 search term permutations using AI.
• Curated data from startup databases, patent databases, and analysis tools, as well as Semantic Scholar.