The EU weather value chain - past, current and future perspectives

The EU weather value chain has developed vigorously, with private services growing at a 20% p.a. rate over the past decade. Growth has also happened amongst national services, and the sector of instrument providers.

The study uses a value chain model of five steps : 1. Instrument Supply, 2. Networks, (for operation of Measurements & Observations), 3. Data processing, 4. Products (Mass distribution) and 5. Tailored services.

The study analyses the entire value chain in selected countries, mainly United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Italy and Czechia, including all steps from instrument to service providers, including national and private services, and quantifies their evolution over the period from 2010 to 2019. It uses annual reports, press articles and other sources to estimate development of value creation, in terms of annual budgets, revenues, profits and employment. It also attempts to identify the sources of uncertainty for the assessments and propose techniques to reduce this uncertainty.

Further, it classifies the value creation by value chain step and market segment, and attempts to differentiate between domestic and export of products and services.

The study further compares the value creation by inhabitant, GDP, area and other social parameters, to create parameters which can be used for characterising the value chain, and developing a better understanding of causal factors enhancing the development of the weather value chain in selected countries. These parameters are then compared with those of more other highly developed value chains in the USA and Japan.

In a final step, the study makes some projections about future evolution of the weather value chain and recommendations for the future development of a more productive and beneficial value chain.