This column is sponsored by ESRI
The current state of the world economy is certainly troubling, particularly in light of this week’s losses on the financial markets. Enormous government bail outs here in the United States for Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and now AIG, make you wonder where all the government money comes from to prop up these failing ventures, and whether there will be any money left over for important investments that could add renewed vitality to the economy.
The lack of available credit will undoubtedly have an impact on business growth in all sectors, with less money available for mergers and acquisitions and for R&D investments. The overall economic market has shown some signs of rebound, but the lack of construction starts has certainly harmed the survey-oriented companies in the geospatial industry. There seems to be money on the open market to invest, but the sub-prime mortgage issues need to die down before a rebound is possible.
It’s clear that we’re faced with a recession, but it’s not as broadly felt as past economic downturns. There are some sectors that are resilient regardless of broader economic trends, and the geospatial community is somewhat shielded due to the critical markets that are served. In the early 2000s, there were issues with budget deficits in local governments and reduced geospatial investments in the utility sector due to large-scale consolidation. While those markets contracted, the overall pain to the geospatial community were largely offset by security concerns that opened up the homeland security sector and geospatial intelligence spending. This evolving geospatial marketplace seems to follow hot markets as individual application areas discover the benefits. While these new markets will someday dry up, the overall diversity of the geospatial market provides a broad base of support for companies that generalize as well as specialize.
Need for Change
There’s widespread call for investments in areas that both benefit our planet and our economy. The move toward clean energy technology and the need for infrastructure spending are both issues that have become entwined into the race for the next American president. Both candidates have indicated an interest in investing in clean energy, and in some level of infrastructure spending. These investments are seen as a good bet to get the economy back on track, and both provide markets for technology and services that will benefit the geospatial industry.
The overall objectives of a green revolution, as stated by Thomas Friedman, are toward innovation to respark the American economy while benefitting our planet. Any debate about such an investment should be fought on the basis of global priorities.
There’s a recent quote in the press from Steven Hawking who was defending the $8 billion investment in the Large Hadron Collider as well as the space program, “If the human race cannot afford this, then it doesn’t deserve the epithet ‘human’.” Given this context, it really amazes me that our environment hasn’t been placed on a larger pedestal than the space race and deep questions about the origins of our universe. After all, we’ve spent untold billions on exploring space without finding any similar planets that could support life. Shouldn’t we be worrying more about the ability of our own planet to support life, and invest money accordingly?
Innovation Drives Growth
Technology innovation is the driver that weathers all downturns. If a new technology can show that it can do things better (more accurately) with greater efficiency, it will get snapped up regardless of the economy. The key is to show that money can be saved and that business can be won based on the new technology. New advancements renew interest from more mature markets, while opening up new markets.
The geospatial industry has been a constant innovator, with new hardware, software, sensors and service businesses. Overall, the geospatial marketplace will continue to hum with reasonable yearly growth. Large public geospatial companies have long operated at a profit, with some cyclical variance depending upon their focus.The opportunities in this market sector are very broad and diverse, but evolve largely around better decision making. As long as geospatial technology contributes to better decisions, meaning greater efficiency, there will be no better place to weather out economic downturns.
I see a bright future for geospatial professionals as well. I witnessed the employement prospects first hand recently at the GIS in the Rockies Conference where I was told that several late career changers were roaming the halls looking for an interesting profession and something more stable than the real estate market. The application of geospatial technology will provide good career opportunities for an increasing number of workers for some time to come.
Read what Jeff Thurston has to say on this topic here.
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