IGARSS 2025 to Host Geospatial Business Startup Sessions
Once again, GRSS will host two Entrepreneurship sessions at IGARSS 2025 designed to help attendees take their ideas for a new geospatial business, product, or service from concept to reality. The sessions will feature geospatial entrepreneurs discussing their startup journeys followed by a unique pitch session where attendees confidentially discuss their business ideas one on one with the panelist of their choice.
The sessions begin with “Accelerate Your Geospatial Startup” at 8 am on Wednesday, Aug. 6, in Room Plaza 5 at the Brisbane conference venue. “Geospatial Business Brainstorming” will follow at 10:30 am after the coffee break.
“Our geospatial startup workshops were created for scientists and engineers who have an idea for a business but don’t know where to start,” explained session moderator Kevin Corbley, a business development veteran who consulted on the startup teams for Space Imaging, Radarsat, GeoEye, RapidEye, and many other successful companies.
Corbley explained that high-tech startups are most often launched by individuals with educational backgrounds in science or engineering but no formal education in business. This means the learning curves are steep and failure rates are high. For the past six years, GRSS has sought to provide members with the knowledge to get started.
The GRSS Technology Industry Education (TIE) committee launched the Geospatial Business Startup series at IGARSS 2019 in Japan. Since then, these sessions have been attended or viewed online by hundreds of geoscience and remote sensing students and professors worldwide.
This year’s panel includes a remarkable line-up of presenters:
- Alisa Starkey, Founder/Chief Science Officer at Ozius Pty Ltd. in Brisbane, Australia
- Awais Ahmed, CEO/Founder of Pixxel in Bengaluru, India
- Rakshit Bhatt, VP/Co-Founder of GalaxEye in Chennai, India
- Dr. Shawana Johnson, President of Global Marketing Insights, Brecksville, OH, USA
Each presenter is the founder of one or more geospatial businesses, and they will discuss the ups and downs of their startup journeys, providing special insights into the entrepreneurial support available in their country. Among the many topics covered will be how they received funding, whether they participated in an accelerator/incubator, and what go-to-market strategy they pursued in bringing their idea to fruition.
In addition, Dr. Shawana Johnson, GISP, president of Global Market Insights, will offer details on the current geospatial startup environment in the United States with a special focus on how an international company, even a small one, can do business with the U.S. government.
Each presenter will tell their startup story, and then Corbley will open the floor up to questions from the audience. The panel will end no later than 9:30 am in time for the scheduled coffee break.
The Entrepreneurship Workshop will resume at 10:30 am after the break with a session that is unique to IGARSS and now in its second year. Called “Geospatial Business Brainstorming,” this session will give attendees an opportunity to sit down one on one with their choice of panelist to pitch their business idea in confidence and receive vital feedback on the best path forward.
These pitches will last 10 minutes and will be held at designated time slots. A sign-up sheet will be circulated during the 8 am session. Walk-ins will be allowed to the pitch session, but organizers recommend signing up in advance. The schedule will be adhered to strictly.
“Participants in our first Geospatial Business Brainstorming session at IGARSS 2024 in Greece told us it was one of the best business-related geospatial events they had ever attended,” said Corbley.
Here is the complete IGARSS 2025 Entrepreneurship Workshop schedule. Both events will be held in Room Plaza 5 (P5).
Entrepreneurship Workshop: Accelerate Your Geospatial Startup
Wednesday, August 6, 8:00-9:30 am
Geospatial Business Brainstorming
Wednesday, August 6, 10:30-11:45 am
