GeoFutures Strategic Roadmap

 The GeoFutures Strategic Roadmap lays out a detailed pathway by which St. Louis can strengthen its position as the geospatial center of excellence over the next 10 years. The roadmap notes that St. Louis could gain a competitive advantage in geospatial technologies by focusing on four industry sectors: national security; digital/precision agriculture; transportation and logistics; and health care delivery.

To get there, the plan calls for a focus on five strategic priority areas:

• Scale up talent and workforce development to meet geospatial industry demand
• Raise innovation capacity for advanced applications for leading industry and community development drivers
• Accelerate entrepreneurship and availability of risk capital
• Support the advancement of community-driven development in the neighborhoods north of Downtown the new NGA West campus will soon call home
• Brand and position St. Louis as a national thought leader in geospatial technology

Focus on Community and Racial Equity

The St. Louis region has seen significant growth across several of its industry sectors in recent years, but the benefits of that growth haven’t been shared by all, specifically the region’s Black residents.

The construction of the new NGA West headquarters north of Downtown St. Louis has the potential to serve not only as a catalyst for the expansion of the geospatial sector in St. Louis, but also as an opportunity to create a new path for growth in the St. Louis region, a path that is transformative for those who have been left behind in the region’s economic success thus far.

Building on the recommendations of the Ferguson Commission Report, the GeoFutures Strategic Roadmap elevates and intentionally centers racial equity with the goal of using geospatial technology and the growth of the geospatial sector to promote equity and inclusion.

The GeoFutures Initiative

The GeoFutures Initiative was launched in October 2019 to bolster the St. Louis region’s rapidly growing geospatial sector and develop a strategic plan for the future. The effort was guided by an advisory committee that features a broad and diverse group of nearly 30 leaders from the region’s public, business, civic, and academic sectors.

For more details on the priorities and opportunities identified in the GeoFutures Strategic Roadmap, download the full report.