Over 70 delegates from a wide variety of industries, institutions and government attended the CEOI Innovations in Remote Sensing Showcase in London on 23rd January 2013. Supported by the Satellite Applications Catapult, the event provided a great opportunity to catch up with the latest Earth observation (EO) instrumentation technologies and highlighted potential areas for licensing, collaboration and supply.

The CEOI programme supports mainstream projects and smaller ‘seedcorn’ projects, both selected through Open Calls to the community. Created in 2007 and jointly funded by the UK Space Agency and industry, the CEOI has a vision to develop and strengthen UK expertise and capabilities in EO. It also works to position the UK to win leading roles in future international space programmes.

As well as affording an overview of current UK Space policy, future technology challenges and collaborative opportunities, there were technology presentations covering:

• Remote sensing techniques for urban air quality monitoring
• The study of a future geosynchronous radar mission
• Lightweight optics, bonded mirror structures
• Innovative satellite on-board data handling techniques
• Infrared sensors with avalanche gain for radical improvement in sensitivity in space borne instruments
• Mid-infrared laser heterodyne systems – from EO to security and defence

Although the technical drive has been to produce instruments for space, in many cases the resulting technologies have non-space applications. A number of sectors which could be beneficiaries of such technologies include healthcare, defence and security, analytical instrumentation, marine industries and environmental. This was reflected in the mix of industrial delegates, representing numerous technology areas and industries.

The showcase element of the event began at lunch time and included around a dozen exhibitors. Presentations and further information about the CEOI and its technologies can be found via the following Link