ABOUT SANJAY
Geospatial Evangelist | Change Agent | Social Entrepreneur
GEOSPATIAL EVANGELIST
Twenty years ago, when geospatial was little known, Sanjay had the foresight that in times to come it would become a “by-default” technology in every work of life and business process. Since then, when he established Geospatial Media and Communications, he has worked relentlessly towards advocating for the technology – whether through conferences or media or various other initiatives at a global level – mobilizing people to come together in establishing the value of geospatial data and technology.
Geospatial World Forum, and many of such international conferences, that his company organizes every year, is a fruition of this thought process where one can find geospatial companies of all hues and colors, top policymakers, users, and even mainstream IT companies.
While the conferences are held once a year, Sanjay is not a once a year event. He lives and breathes geospatial, persistently working towards building a bridge between the government stakeholders, private sector, the user community, the academia and even the common man. He has taken evangelism both horizontally within the industry and vertically across numerous domains. In evangelising to the global community, he understands the role of geospatial in the larger ecosystem, and thus is always emphasising on building relationships between geospatial and mainstream technologies; as well as between the technical/geospatial geeks and the wide range of entities trying to figure out how to use location technology to make better decisions.
Sanjay’s sharp political acumen helps him effortlessly engage with key leadership at national levels, from Americas to Europe to Asia, to obtain broad support for the community from governments. He advises organizations like the UN on the importance of geospatial data and has been closely involved with the UNGGIM efforts since its formation.
CHANGE AGENT
Sanjay was instrumental in bringing about the biggest change in the industry – getting the geospatial community on one stage, as one entity. At a time when the industry was fragmented into various segments – be it software companies in the field of GIS and Remote Sensing-related technologies; or hardware companies manufacturing GPS, survey and mapping devices; service providers or location analytics companies etc., he played a major role in integrating and consolidating all these, putting them under one umbrella which we call geospatial now.
Sanjay is always challenging the status quo and doesn’t shy away from asking tough questions. His global perspective allows him to communicate what needs to be done to raise the bar for the geospatial industry, and he wouldn’t hesitate to put pressure on the community – be it the governments or private companies or multilateral agencies. He does this consistently, through one-on-one meetings, his media platform or the conferences, to sensitize the community towards larger goals and broader trends.
On one hand, the conferences conceptualised and organized by him provide a perfect ground for G2B and B2G collaborations, where industry stakeholders can directly engage with users and top political thought-leadership from various countries.
On the other hand, Geospatial World, the media platform he leads from the front, is the world’s #1 media in geospatial domain today, educating people on the technology, advocating on its values, and elaborating on its wide-ranging applications. It is also scathing in its criticism whenever applicable and asking tough questions.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
Sanjay started off as a social entrepreneur with Geospatial Media (erstwhile GIS Development) in 1997. At its core, Geospatial Media’s mission is to make a difference through geospatial knowledge in world economy and society.
Twenty years hence, he hasn’t lost that zeal and purpose. For Geospatial Media is not a company not just driven by profitability, but also by the greater good it can bring to the table. Under his leadership, Geospatial Media works through its various platforms – conferences, media and research – to find effective ways to support a substantive dialogue on the uses of geospatial information and technology.
Sanjay has constantly strived towards developing the industry ecosystem and provided relevant platforms for government, industry, academia and multilateral agencies to understand each other better and explore and engage in a collaborative manner. This has helped a lot towards building the geospatial industry at national, regional and global levels. He has also worked in the space of education as an entrepreneur empowered over thousands of people through education programs, media and conferences that helped in their professional journey within the geospatial industry and further.
One of the major achievements of Sanjay the social entrepreneur has been giving exposure to his country – India – to the happenings in global geospatial arena, in the process making the Indian geospatial community an integral part of the global process.
EXPERIENCE
FOUNDER & CEO, GEOSPATIAL MEDIA
April 1997 - Till Date
As a social entrepreneur, Sanjay founded Geospatial Media and Communications (erstwhile GIS Development), a global media house working towards expanding the horizons of the geospatial industry globally. Under his leadership, Geospatial Media has emerged as a well-recognized organization within the industry.
FOUNDER & CEO, WGIC
July 2018 - Present
Sanjay is one of the core founding members of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC). He is leading the conceptualization efforts and strategy of establishing this new global industry association that aims to take geospatial mainstream.
BOARD OF DIRECTOR, RADIANT.EARTH
Jan 2017 – Present
Sanjay brings to Radiant.Earth - a platform in open Earth imagery for the global development - his deep understanding of the core geospatial industry, and vast global network.
BOARD OF DIRECTOR, OGC
Jan 2011 – Present
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an open standards and interoperability organization. As a board member, Sanjay advises OGC on its various initiatives and interoperability programs. He brings the global connect to the board and is also a key member in setting up the OGC India network.