Geodesy Supply Chain Summit

Theme: Strategic Infrastructure for Sovereignty, Economic Resilience, and Sustainable Development.

Partner Event

30 April 2026

 
 

Overview

Geodesy, once a behind-the-scenes technical field has become a critical pillar of modern infrastructure. As economies digitalise, climate risks grow, and national systems become more interconnected, reliable geodetic data now underpins economic competitiveness, security, environmental management, and disaster resilience. Yet the global geodesy system is increasingly strained. Gaps in infrastructure, uneven investment, and low political visibility create vulnerabilities that affect navigation, climate monitoring, telecommunications, and emergency response. Despite its importance, geodesy remains underfunded and institutionally fragmented, with limited industry engagement due to unclear incentives and governance.

This summit aims to:

  • Build shared understanding of geodesy’s strategic importance.
  • Highlight structural and operational vulnerabilities.
  • Mobilise coordinated action across industry, government, science, and international bodies.

The goal is to shape a policy and investment agenda that treats geodesy as a global public good and as a foundation for sovereignty, economic resilience, and sustainable development.

Agenda

Reframing Geodesy as Strategic Infrastructure
  • Evolving Role of Geodesy: How nations are shifting from viewing geodesy as a scientific field to recognising it as an operational, end-to-end supply chain essential for national resilience.
  • Critical Infrastructure Dependence: The central role of geodetic data in enabling telecommunications, power grids, precision agriculture, mining operations, logistics, and everyday digital services such as mobile connectivity and navigation.
  • Societal and Environmental Importance: How geodesy underpins disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, natural hazard monitoring, and climate adaptation strategies.
Diagnosing Structural Vulnerabilities in the Global Geodesy Supply Chain
  • Roles and Responsibilities Across the Supply Chain: Clarifying who owns, maintains, and governs the global geodesy components from ground stations and analysis centres to satellite infrastructure and data services and where accountability gaps exist.
  • Human Capital Challenges: Workforce shortages, limited training pathways, and institutional inefficiencies that hinder system maintenance, innovation, and continuity.
  • Systemic Underinvestment: Patterns of public private underfunding, the misalignment between operational needs and available resources, and the structural reasons why investment has lagged.
  • Cost of Inaction: Quantifying risks such as system downtime, degraded positioning accuracy, disrupted services, and increased susceptibility to cyber or operational disruption based on publicly available evidence.
  • Pathways for Industry Participation: Highlighting where private-sector capabilities, innovation, and investment could address bottlenecks and strengthen supply chain continuity.
Industry Strategic Role: From Passive Stakeholder to Co-Architects
  • Understanding Industry Reluctance: Exploring why commercial actors have traditionally stayed on the sidelines low policy demand signals, limited visibility of the geodesy market, unclear business cases, and perceived lack of return on investment.
  • Emerging Commercial Opportunities: Identifying growth areas for industry participation, including:
    1. Next-generation observation systems and sensors
    2. Data processing platforms, analytics, and automation
    3. Digital twins and geospatial intelligence services
    4. Infrastructure resilience and continuity offerings
  • Co-Development Approaches: How industry and government can jointly shape standards, data-sharing mechanisms, interoperable architectures, and innovation pilots that strengthen the supply chain.
Governance, Financing, and International Cooperation for a Future-Ready Geodesy Ecosystem
  • Strengthening Global Governance Architecture: Examining the role of UN-GGCE, regional geodesy bodies, and emerging multilateral platforms in creating coherent global oversight, coordination, and long-term stability.
  • Financing Models for Sustainable Infrastructure: Exploring public investment strategies, blended finance mechanisms, innovation funding, and multi-country investment pools that can support modernisation, maintenance, and capacity-building across the global geodesy system.
  • Standards, Interoperability, and Data Protocols: Developing shared frameworks for data exchange, interoperability, cybersecurity, and digital transformation to ensure that geodetic information remains reliable, accessible, and globally consistent.
  • Workforce and Skills Development: Identifying strategies for cross-sector training, long-term talent pipelines, global skills harmonisation, and collaborative education initiatives that strengthen operational capacity.
0930 - 1000
Opening Remarks and Launch of the UNGGCE Study
Nicholas James Brown
Nicholas James Brown

Head of Office
United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence
Germany

Ananya Narain
Ananya Narain

Vice President - Consulting
Geospatial World
India

1015 - 1100
Redefining Geodesy as Strategic Infrastructure
Deirdre Bishop
Deirdre Bishop

Associate Director - Economic Programs
US Census Bureau
USA

Bonnie Samuyiwa
Bonnie Samuyiwa

Senior Policy Advisor - PNT
UK DSIT

Alejandro Guinea
Alejandro Guinea

President
EUROGI

TEO Hui Ying
TEO Hui Ying

Deputy Director - Geodesy & National Mapping
Singapore Land Authority (SLA)

1100 - 1145
Diagnosing Structural Vulnerabilities in the Global Geodesy Domain
Catherine Williams
Catherine Williams

Director - Foundation GEOINT
Foundation GEOINT

Allison Rose
Allison Rose

Chief of Space Division
Geoscience
Australia

Hannu Koivula
Hannu Koivula

Director - National Land Survey
Geodesy
Finland

Gustavo Caubarrere
Gustavo Caubarrere

President -SIRGAS
Director, Military Geographic Institute of Uruguay (IGM)

Neeraj Gurjar
Neeraj Gurjar

Director, G&RB, Dehradun
Survey of India

1330 - 1500
Industry's Strategic Role: From Passive Stakeholder to Co-Architect
Richard Gross
Richard Gross

President International Association of Geodesy

Vibhor Jain
Vibhor Jain

Co-Founder
AeroDome Technologies Private Limited

Iain MacInnes
Iain MacInnes

Senior Director
Synspective

Col Mikko Punnala (Retd)
Col Mikko Punnala (Retd)

Chief Executive Officer
SharpNav
Finland

Simon Livinov
Simon Livinov

Co-Founder & CEO
Precision Navigation Systems (StarGate RTK)

Yudhishtir Jahadeesha
Yudhishtir Jahadeesha

Assistant Director, Promotion Directorate
IN-SPACe, Department of Space

1600 - 1645
Governance, Financing and International Cooperation for a Future-Ready Ecosystem
Nicholas James Brown
Nicholas James Brown

Head of Office
United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence
Germany

Vincent Brison
Vincent Brison

Join Office in Space Navigation
European Commission

Nicolas Paparoditis
Nicolas Paparoditis

Dy Director General
National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN)
France

Ingrid Vanden Berghe
Ingrid Vanden Berghe

Administrator General
National Institute of Geography
Belgium