Newsletter: PhilSA strengthens space ecosystem, enhances space data capabilities of businesses through innovation camp

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The Space Business Innovation Camp 2026 panel discussion during the Philippine Space Week in August brought together experts from the government, industry, and startup sectors to explore opportunities for using space data to address real-world challenges and create new business ventures.

The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) is expanding its efforts to develop the country’s space economy by helping businesses build capabilities to use satellite-derived data, develop space-enabled solutions, and explore opportunities.

Aligned with the Marcos administration’s push to strengthen the country’s capabilities in space technology, the national space agency has been building the domestic space ecosystem by developing space assets, increasing the operational use of space data, and building a pool of Filipino professionals with expertise in space technology and related fields. 

For the business sector, PhilSA encourages the use of satellite data to support existing operations and create new products and services.

Through targeted capacity-building programs, the Agency is working with startups, organizations, and companies to develop their ability to integrate satellite data with other datasets, including demographic and population statistics, transportation, energy consumption, and socioeconomic information. 

Combining these datasets can help businesses identify market opportunities, improve services, optimize operations, and develop solutions to specific industry challenges. 

“We want innovators to see satellite data not as something distant or highly specialized, but as a building block—one that can be combined with existing technologies and local knowledge to solve real problems,” said PhilSA Acting Director General Gay Jane P. Perez, Ph.D.

One of PhilSA’s key initiatives is the Space Business Innovation Camp (SBIC), a seven-week online mentoring program designed to equip participants with knowledge on transforming business ideas into satellite-enabled solutions. Participants receive mentorship in finding the problem-solution fit, understanding the market, and defining the value proposition, some of the topics that are relevant in early-stage venture development. Participants who demonstrate a viable business idea will have a chance to join the pitching event before a panel comprised of various funding and financing institutions technical experts, and industry practitioners, by the end of the program in November.

SBIC also provides opportunities for further development and commercialization as participants gain access to potential research and development collaborators, startup funding programs, and incubation or acceleration programs.

Building businesses around space-enabled applications is also an important component of developing a sustainable domestic space economy. As more Philippine companies acquire the capability to use space data and develop commercially viable applications, the country expands its pool of space-related enterprises and create new opportunities for innovation, investment, and employment.

PhilSA is also working on the development of space assets locally by engaging space-adjacent industries to explore the manufacturing and production of technical components for space assets.

By enhancing the space capabilities of the private sector, these efforts will lead to a stronger domestic space ecosystem for national development.

Interested startups, companies, and organizations can still join SBIC 2026 here: bit.ly/sbic2026

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