#52: On-Premise Intelligence for the Defense Sector With AI and Satellite Imagery - Arnaud Guérin, Preligens

In this episode, I am speaking with Arnaud Guérin from Preligens, startup based in France that is building software for the defence & intelligence sector, by applying artificial intelligence to satellite imagery, among other data sources.

Preligens was in the news recently as they won a 7-year long, 240M EUR contract from the Ministere des Armees, the French Ministry of Defence , which I thought was a big win for both the company and the EO sector in Europe. 

The company has an interesting journey because contrary to other EO companies that build cloud-based, scalable products, they deploy software on-premise because that is how the defence sector operates. Also, their product is sensor-agnostic because in its early days, they couldn't get access to imagery gathered by French intelligence satellites. So, I wanted to speak to Arnaud to understand more about their capabilities strategy and where they are headed.

In this episode. we discuss about Preligens, what AI brings to EO, how they develop on-premise solutions, the reason for being data-agnostic, verticalisation and more. 

• Preligens website: https://preligens.com
• French MoD contract: https://preligens.com/resources/press/press-release-frances-general-directorate-armaments-dga-contracts-preligens-data

[Thanks to Preligens for sponsoring this episode]

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[ 01:35 ] : Overview of Preligens

[ 03:34 ] : Core product offerings

[ 06:43 ] : What AI brings to Earth observation

[ 08:40 ] : On-premise platform vs cloud-based products

[ 15:02 ] : About the 240M EUR contract from the French MoD

[ 18:44 ] : The importance of being data-agnostic and helping customers answering a question

[ 29:11 ] : Verticalisation and expanding to new markets

[ 36:42 ] : Are there still data gaps?

[ 38:44 ] : Is Preligens an EO company?

[ 40:19 ] : SpaceTech in France

[ 44:17 ] : What does Preligens mean and outlook for the company

[ 47:36 ] : Wrap-up