Commercial Innovation Center (CIC)

We Are Better Together

Our Commercial Innovation Center (CIC) is a first-of-its-kind, online development and test platform that provides a secure, virtual, open ecosystem and test sandbox for developers and researchers. We do it by harnessing the combined powers of commercial remote sensing, unclassified open datasets, cloud technologies, in a secure development ecosystem fueled by new, emerging, and seasoned tools, services and data to create solutions that keep our nation safe. The Riverside Research CIC is the place where commercial subject matter experts come together securely to collaborate and create the best commercial solutions to real world scenarios before they're integrated and deployed in the field.

Together, we win

It’s not as much fun to play in the sandbox by yourself, right? We know from experience that it’s the collective work of many people with diverse experiences and backgrounds that create the most effective solutions. By design, the CIC encourages partnerships, increases data accessibility, integrates app development, and facilitates the creation of transition-ready prototypes. Because of our unique position as a nonprofit in the defense space, we can provide the neutral environment where collaborative innovation thrives. As demonstrated on this video, capitalizing on all commercial sensors available improves our progress towards persistent observation.

Access to rich datasets

Data is the one thing that is guaranteed to continuously grow and change. Technology entrepreneurs’ success revolves around access to these data and developing improved AI and machine learning tools creating integrated and advanced applications for businesses in support of (United States Government) USG needs.

Advanced tools and applications

Advanced tools and applications

Technology innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented and virtual reality present significant entrepreneurial opportunities, yet all require geospatial data for development. Early-stage entrepreneurs, academic researchers, and innovators will now have access to the large datasets that are traditionally only available to large, established industry players. Such datasets are often too costly for early-stage entrepreneurs and researchers to acquire, and even if the datasets are made available, they are often not packaged in a manner that allows innovators to work with the data—they are overwhelmingly unwieldy and non-standardized. The CIC data environment seeks to solve that problem, allowing researchers and entrepreneurs new opportunities for experimentation, testing, and training.

The CIC pairs this data with tools and services to streamline development timelines by ensuring flexible licenses are available for your R&D activities within the CIC ecosystem. As new tools and services become available, we negotiate with the vendors for early and shared access amongst our CIC participants to the latest and greatest capabilities from established vendors in the remote sensing market. This visual shows a few or our early integrators, and as new vendors are integrated, we’ll let the community know!

CIC Data Search and Discovery

Your all-access pass

The CIC supports and enables industry, scientific, academic, and governmental R&D activities by facilitating access to commercial remote sensing data. Riverside Research integrates the hardware, software, processes, data, tools, internet accesses, demonstration capabilities, and other IT infrastructure required to execute CIC participant SIBR projects and meet R&D objectives. Our CIC offers:

  • Exposure to diverse and emerging data and data types for more data scientists
  • Increased interaction between content providers and new application developers; enables cloud-hybrid, multi-INT applications
  • Lowered entry barriers by eliminating the need for a user-developed system
  • Integrated orchestration-to-analysis workflow
  • Timely teaming, technology, and tipping
  • Accelerated access and use of commercial remote sensing solutions and innovation
Right where you want it

Right where you want it

Are you looking for a cloud-hosting environment where you can easily access commercial data for development and test—all from one place to safely develop, load, and test capabilities?

Our trusted, unclassified, virtual development platform provides access to R&D-licensed commercial remote sensing phenomenologies (e.g., EO, radar, IR, RF), connects emerging and established vendors with shared application tools and services, and facilitates GEOINT, MASINT, and Multi-INT research and development. The CIC includes:

  • An ecosystem of commercial data providers (CDPs)
  • A network of application developers
  • Common R&D data and COTS/GOTS tools (e.g., loading, discovery)
  • Common testing data (curated, tagged)
  • Robust DevOps environment
  • Hybrid cloud-ready infrastructure
  • Protected intellectual property and data rights
  • Maturing secure data fabric
CIC mission, vision & values

CIC mission, vision & values

Mission: Provide data scientists and algorithm developers with a virtual development and test platform and access to new and diverse commercial remote sensing data to develop algorithms, tools, and services.

Vision: Work in the Nation’s interest to offer proven expertise and experience in commercial remote sensing to solve problems through innovation, agility, and creative thinking.

Values: Encourage partnerships and connect emerging and established users across USG and industry with shared application tools, services, and diverse commercial constellation data.

Participant Agreements: We offer access to a secure, virtual, cloud-based ecosystem to perform R&D using existing and emerging commercial sources to develop and test algorithms, tools, and services accelerating USG objectives.

Commercial Experts: We offer our commercial experience, data scientists, and phenomenology experts to support efforts using the CIC to perform commercial utility assessments, new sensor development, synthetic data V&V, data value/usability studies, and more.

Products and Services: We offer access to CIC-based products and services such as synthetic data generation, data tagging, AI/ML V&V, data compression, data geo-registration, and more.

Work With the Commercial Innovation Center
Press Inquiries About the CIC

Commercial Innovation in the News

  • Commercial Imagery
  • Satellite Launches
  • EO-MSI
  • SAR
  • HSI
  • RF
  • SSA
Commercial Imagery
New Frontex study shows how Earth Observation technology can strengthen EU border security

Europe's Copernicus programme delivers satellite imagery that together with information from in-situ, air- and sea-borne sensors provides this kind of ...

Dec 5,2025
RSF massacres left Sudanese city 'a slaughterhouse', satellite images show - The Guardian

Side-by-side satellite images of El Fasher, Sudan: the left side. View image in fullscreen. Satellite imagery from August 2025, left, ...

Dec 5,2025
ESA Keeps the Door Open for More Defense Funding - Payload Space

ERS will cover efforts such as its €175M ERS-EO initiative—an electro-optical and radar intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satellite ...

Dec 5,2025
The AI boom is heralding a new gold rush in the American west - The Guardian

... image. Previous image. Toggle caption. Skip ... satellite map showing the region's watershed – from California's mountains to Nevada's Great Basin.

Dec 5,2025
GISTDA to Use Satellite Data for Flood Prevention Planning - Nation Thailand

... satellite imagery. This data will act as a highly accurate "navigation map," which will be used to guide the Hat Yai site visit on December 6 ...

Dec 5,2025
When will North Carolina get winter weather this week? - WXII

YOU CAN SEE THAT HERE ON THE VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY, BUT WE'LL KEEP THE CLOUDS IN PLAY AS WE GO IN THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THIS AFTERNOON.

Dec 5,2025
Chinese tech firms race to build AI computing capabilities in space | english.scio.gov.cn

"Orbital edge computing moves AI directly to the source of data filtering petabytes of daily satellite imagery and traffic before the narrow downlink ...

Dec 5,2025
MDA SPACE AWARDED INITIAL CONTRACT BY CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY ... - PR Newswire

Government of Canada announces intention to contract MDA Space to build, test, and launch an additional radar imaging satellite.

Dec 5,2025
Intelligent Atmospheric Attenuation Mitigation in Terahertz Satellite Communication Using ...

The terahertz (THz) satellite communications technology will allow massive amounts of bandwidth; however, it is greatly attenuated by the ...

Dec 5,2025
Interview — Satellites and co-creation: 35 years of mapping Europe together

Partly the use of satellite imagery, which was still relatively new. But equally important was the European collaboration behind it. CLC is a ...

Dec 5,2025
Satellite imagery from Vantor, taken on December 3, shows Chinese navy assets operating ...

Satellite imagery from Vantor, taken on December 3, shows Chinese navy assets operating in the Philippine Sea. The imagery reportedly shows a ...

Dec 5,2025
'Day by day I lose weight': asylum seekers on Nauru get $115 a week, but a bag of grapes costs $20

... satellite image of the island of Nauru. Asylum seekers on Nauru have spoken out about their hunger and declining health. Photograph: Gallo Images ...

Dec 5,2025
M5.8 in northwestern China: aftershock of 2024 M7.0 Wushi earthquake

Satellite radar imaging of the rupture area showed that the mountains around the epicentral area bulged upward due to slip on the underlying fault ...

Dec 5,2025
UN warns Sudan's Kordofan faces mass atrocities as fighting spreads - Al Jazeera

After the city's capture, mass killings ensued, with corpses visible from satellite imagery, prompting UN chief Antonio Guterres to describe it as a “ ...

Dec 5,2025
Pixxel and UP42 Announce Partnership, Bringing Hyperspectral Data to Users Worldwide

End users of UP42 will be able to order 5-meter resolution hyperspectral imagery from Pixxel's six-satellite Firefly constellation, covering 135+ ...

Dec 5,2025
Midland downtown hotel plan heads to City Council after P&Z recommendation

The outline on this satellite image shows the location of a replat request by RIMT Property LP, which is seeking again seeking to build a hotel there.

Dec 5,2025
AI has turned satellite imagery and social media into powerful tools of influence. Leo Laporte ...

TWiT Tech Podcasts (@TWiT). 315 views. AI has turned satellite imagery and social media into powerful tools of influence.

Dec 5,2025
WISeKey expands satellite network to boost IoT cybersecurity - SecurityBrief Australia

WISeKey has expanded its satellite constellation via a SpaceX launch, enhancing secure global IoT connectivity with advanced post-quantum ...

Dec 5,2025
Dramatic decline of Sargassum in the north Sargasso Sea since 2015 | Nature Geoscience

Briefly, Level-1 satellite data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua and Terra collected within the geographic range ...

Dec 5,2025
From lab to orbit: Solestial's takeoff from research to startup | ASU News

In 2026, Bulgarian satellite company EnduroSat AD is slated to launch ... Image courtesy of Solestial. By Preesha Kumar | December 04, 2025.

Dec 5,2025
Satellite Launches
Satellite Swarms Plague Space Telescopes - ScienceBlog.com

That still means more than a third of its images will be affected. SPHEREx, a NASA infrared space telescope planned for launch at 650 kilometers ...

Dec 5,2025
China Launches World's Longest Airline Flight: What To Know - Newsweek

China Launches World's Longest Airline Flight: What To Know. Published ... Satellite Imagery Reveals Chinese Naval Group in West Pacific. 4 min ...

Dec 5,2025
LexisNexis launches enhanced IDVerse with deepfake detection - SecurityBrief Asia

Organisations face rising threats from fraudsters leveraging generative artificial intelligence to produce fake identification, alter images and ...

Dec 5,2025
Private space boom fuels rise in satellite insurance disputes and high-stakes arbitration

Near Space Labs, a provider of aerial imagery for insurance and other applications, has launched stratospheric robots across the United States.

Dec 5,2025
Interview — Satellites and co-creation: 35 years of mapping Europe together

It was launched by the European Commission in the 1980s to generate harmonised ... The satellite images were printed on large sheets of paper.

Dec 5,2025
Satellites now 'photobombing' space telescopes, Nasa study warns - Malay Mail

... satellites contaminate images of the universe taken by space telescopes. Light from the half a million satellites that humanity is planning to launch ...

Dec 5,2025
NordSpace postponing inaugural NL rocket launch until March 2026 | PNI Atlantic News

However, its application for Launch the North, a sovereign space launch ... satellites that primarily collect raw imagery for later processing.

Dec 5,2025
Where the elements come from | KYOTO UNIVERSITY

Using XRISM -- short for X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, an X-ray satellite launched ... launch. Making such a discovery with a satellite we ...

Dec 5,2025
Starlink Satellites Risk Contaminating 96% of Telescope Images by 2030 - WebProNews

... images from certain orbiting observatories could be contaminated if current satellite launch plans proceed unchecked. The issue stems from so ...

Dec 5,2025
Pixxel and UP42 Announce Partnership, Bringing Hyperspectral Data to Users Worldwide

End users of UP42 will be able to order 5-meter resolution hyperspectral imagery from Pixxel's six-satellite Firefly constellation, covering 135+ ...

Dec 5,2025
The Israeli military launched air strikes on at least three towns in southern Lebanon, saying it ...

The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post, citing satellite images obtained by Channel 2, reports that Russian-made Neva S-125 surface-to-air ...

Dec 5,2025
Starlink & Co. will contaminate almost all images of future space telescopes - Heise

Two of them will image dozens of satellite streaks on each image on average. If more satellites are launched, the number of streaks will increase ...

Dec 5,2025
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites to orbit from California (video)

SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites on Thursday (Dec. 4), sending 28 of them up from California's central coast.

Dec 5,2025
Google's Project Suncatcher could make the space debris problem a lot worse

[Image: Getty Images] ... On November 4, 2025, Google unveiled Project Suncatcher, a bold proposal to launch an 81-satellite constellation into low ...

Dec 5,2025
First Russian MiG-29 Claimed Destroyed In Ukraine, But That May Not Be The Whole Story

Based on the video footage, they could well be the same fiber-optic types that have been launched from Ukrainian drone boats. ... Satellite imagery of ...

Dec 5,2025
China's three ships more than a match for Australia's entire navy | news.com.au

Satellite images have revealed the true scale of what's lurking in waters near Australia. And the firepower is staggering. Jamie Seidel.

Dec 5,2025
Hispasat Wins New Portuguese Telecoms Deal - Via Satellite

Finance Marble Imaging Raises New Funding Ahead of Satellite Launch Next Year · Broadcast. Hispasat Wins New Portuguese Telecoms Deal. By Mark Holmes ...

Dec 5,2025
Europe to spy on drug traffickers from space using latest satellites and drones - Politico.eu

| Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images. December 4, 2025 3:14 pm CET ... The EUDA's new European drug alert system, launched a couple of weeks ...

Dec 5,2025
Company Announcement - FT.com - Markets data

Government of Canada announces intention to contract MDA Space to build, test, and launch an additional radar imaging satellite.

Dec 5,2025
UFOs potentially identified from 1950s images, study finds - NewsNation

The transient objects were captured years before the first man-made satellite was launched, the scientists added. Transients have been described ...

Dec 5,2025
EO-MSI
Satellite Imagery Reveals Chinese Naval Group in West Pacific - Newsweek

By Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Young Kim. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Young Kim. Europe's Next Big Task Is Military Transport | Opinion. By Ilan Berman.

Dec 5,2025
Levels release new music video for 'Black Dove' - Distorted Sound Magazine

Levels have released a new music video for new single 'Black Dove'! Check out the new music video here on Distorted Sound ... Black Satellite release ...

Dec 5,2025
South Africna neo-Nazi Matthew Gruter leaves Australia after visa revoked by minister - RNZ

A neo-Nazi who protested to "abolish the Jewish lobby" outside New ... Sky, Freeview & Satellite · YouTube · RNZ apps for iPhone and Android · RNZ ...

Dec 5,2025
Archer Fiber - sUAS News

... ISI Unveils a Revolution in Real-Time Movement Tracking via RUNNER Satellite ...

Dec 5,2025
Leveraging the satellite advantage in hybrid networks - Capacity

Joe Apa, VP Sales EMEA – Rivada Space Networks · Glenn Katz, CCO – TELESAT · Martijn Blanken, CEO – NEO Space · Kyle Whitehill, CEO – AVANTI ...

Dec 5,2025
Satellite Data Shows 98 Percent of Gaza's Tree Crops Are Now Destroyed By Israel

... PlanetScope, with a nominal 3-meter resolution, and SkySat, with a nominal 50-centimeter resolution. The higher-resolution datasets allowed the ...

Dec 5,2025
Coca-Cola (KO) Receives a Buy from Evercore ISI - The Globe and Mail

Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein maintained a Buy rating on Coca-Cola today and set a price target of $82.00.

Dec 5,2025
Global Geostationary Satellites Market to Reach US$ 8.28 - openPR.com

Satellite manufacturers including Astranis, Maxar, Terran Orbital, SWISSto12, and Saturn Satellite ... A US$ 10 billion satellite constellation ...

Dec 5,2025
NASA's Warning: Satellite Surge Could Ruin Space Telescope Images | WION - YouTube

NASA's Warning: Satellite Surge Could Ruin Space Telescope Images | WION ... Neo Discovery New 17K views · 18:25 · Go to channel · China Just Shocked ...

Dec 5,2025
26 years in orbit: Space artifact from the past captured in photo

One of them was recently photographed by a BlackSky satellite. It has been in space since December 1999. The rocket was used to launch the French ...

Dec 5,2025
North Korean military ramping up parade training ahead of 9th Party Congress - NK News

... satellite imagery. A Maxar high-resolution image taken of the Mirim military parade training complex on Tuesday shows around 6,000 or more ...

Dec 5,2025
Space Leasing International Enters the GEO Market

When thinking about operating a satellite in GEO, is it better to rent or buy? ... Less than 24 hours after launch, BlackSky's ($BKSY) latest Gen-3 ...

Dec 5,2025
Rockets, gold and the Foreign Legion: can Europe defend its frontier in the Amazon?

... Legion, have no other nationality but the Legion itself. Legio Patria ... Satellite imagery of French Guiana from Copernicus Sentinel 2, Q3 ...

Dec 5,2025
Milky Way's Monster Black Hole Data Collected By 'Legion' Of Telescopes - video Dailymotion

Milky Way's Monster Black Hole Data Collected By 'Legion' Of Telescopes ... Europe's New Weather Satellite Delivers Stunning Earth Views · Space ...

Dec 5,2025
SAR
Canadian radar satellite contract positions MDA Space for RADARSAT replenishment role

... Constellation Mission replenishment satellite ... Two new ICEYE radar satellites have entered service under Greece's National Small Satellite ...

Dec 5,2025
2025, December 16: Winter Stars Rise in the East After Sunset: Capella, Aldebaran, and ...

The Pleiades star cluster rides on the Bull's back. Uranus is in the same binocular field with this cluster. Stellar Parade. The constellation Orion ...

Dec 5,2025
Portugal Takes Major Step Into Space With First Direct Military Satellite Purchase

Portugal has entered a new era of military space capability after signing a landmark agreement with ICEYE for the Portuguese Air Force's first ...

Dec 5,2025
Shared Satellite Services Market Is Going to Boom |• Maxar - openPR.com

• ICEYE • Satellogic • Orbital Insight • GeoIQ • Ursa Space Systems • Northrop Grumman. ➤ Shared Satellite Services Market: Segmental Highlights

Dec 5,2025
Inmarsat Maritime announces NexusWave upgrade powered by ViaSat-3 - SatellitePro ME

ICEYE launches five new satellites aboard Transporter-15 · News • UAE ... SatellitePro ME addresses all aspects of the satellite industry ...

Dec 5,2025
India Set For First Uncrewed Gaganyaan Mission As Part Of ISRO's Seven Planned Major ...

... satellite for US-based AST SpaceMobile under an NSIL agreement. PSLV C62 / EOS-N1 – Dedicated launch of an Earth Observation Satellite ...

Dec 5,2025
Inside the race to build Australia's secret laser weapon to counter China

Australia is secretly racing the clock to field a homegrown satellite-killing laser amid fears China could launch an assault on Taiwan. ... EOS in the ...

Dec 5,2025
Survivors pick up pieces in flood-hit Indonesia as more rain predicted - Space Daily

Portuguese Air Force secures first directly owned SAR satellite from ICEYE · 24/7 News Coverage · Flood-hit Asia regions saw highest November rains ...

Dec 5,2025
Private space boom fuels rise in satellite insurance disputes and high-stakes arbitration

Insurtech ICEYE, the global leader in SAR satellite operations for ... ICEYE, a satellite-powered disaster management solutions, has launched ...

Dec 5,2025
Govt: First Gaganyaan mission uncrewed flight before March next year - The Indian Express

Among these was the launch of Earth Observation Satellite EOS-10, also known as Oceansat 3A. This will improve India's meteorological ...

Dec 5,2025
NRO extends contracts for 4 providers, readies new acquisition approach

... satellite agency readies a new commercial acquisition approach ... Capella Space, ICEYE US, Umbra for Radar; and; HawkEye 360, Spire Global ...

Dec 5,2025
ISRO to execute seven missions by March 2026 - The Tribune

Another key mission is PSLV-C62, which will carry the primary earth observation satellite EOS-N1 along with 18 co-passenger satellites. The launch ...

Dec 5,2025
ISRO to execute seven missions by March 2026 - The Tribune

ISRO will also launch the US BlueBird Block-2 satellite. Another key mission is PSLV-C62, which will carry the primary earth observation satellite EOS ...

Dec 5,2025
German Eurofighters deploy to Poland to reinforce NATO's integrated air and missile defence

ICEYE and Portuguese Air Force finalise first direct intelligence satellite acquisition agreement · The first U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon reached ...

Dec 5,2025
Assessing MDA Space After Sharp Pullback and Ambitious Satellite Constellation Expansion

... Inc. 73.72 +12.27 (+19.98%) · EOSE Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. 15.97 +2.42 (+17.83%) · TOP_LOSERS · SYM Symbotic Inc. 60.16 -13.06 (-17.83%).

Dec 5,2025
Smuggling Probe Roils Bolivia's Gas Company YPFB Amid Paz's Reopening Plans - Bloomberg.com

The investigations come as new President Rodrigo Paz prepares to open up YPFB to foreign investment to reverse declining output and shift fuel imports ...

Dec 5,2025
YPFB Probe Leads to Raids at Bolivia Gas Company as Rodrigo Paz Seeks to Reopen

The Paz administration, which took office last month, announced plans ... Satellite Imagery Of The Total Mozambique LNG Project. UK Scraps $1 ...

Dec 5,2025
Eos Energy's Financial Fortunes Rise with Strategic Moves - Timothy Sykes

Eos Energy Enterprises Inc. stocks have ... More Breaking News. AST SpaceMobile Expands Satellite Production with New Sites in Texas and Florida ...

Dec 5,2025
Canon: Eyes On Imaging Business And Subsidiary Stake (Rating Upgrade) - Seeking Alpha

Plans to take full ownership of Canon Electronics will translate into new satellite-related opportunities, further backward integration, and a ...

Dec 5,2025
TVN24: Poland has put its first military satellite from ICEYE into Earth orbit. The satellite was ...

UATV English (@UATV_en). 118 views. TVN24: Poland has put its first military satellite from ICEYE into Earth orbit. The satellite was launched ...

Dec 5,2025
SSA

Questions about Commercial Innovation Center (CIC)