Why we are changing our name to Radiant Earth Foundation

By Anne Hale Miglarese, Founder and CEO of Radiant Earth Foundation

To say that establishing Radiant.Earth and our newly-launched imagery platform has been a whirlwind is an understatement. Over the last two years, there’s been conceptualizing, planning, endless consultations with experts in the field, deep dives into new technologies such as blockchain and machine learning, building a cohesive and talented team, and of course, addressing the growing demand for what we do: Provide Earth imagery and geospatial tools to the global development community to solve today’s most pressing problems.

All along this journey, there’s also been learning. Each day, whether it’s a communication task or software development challenge, we ask ourselves how we can do things better. Not only have we learned there is great interest and demand for our products and services, but we’ve come to realize that some confusion exists around the name, Radiant.Earth.

Part of this confusion stems from our identity as a service provider in this fast-moving satellite data and technology market that is dominated by commercial enterprises. Another part of the confusion may stem from our similarity in name with other entities in the Earth observation marketplace.

However, Radiant.Earth is neither a for-profit business nor is it legally affiliated with any commercial entity. We are an independent, non-profit organization that — as a neutral entity — works with numerous commercial providers, governments, academics, and other non-profits to support the global development community.

As we expand our portfolio, grow the platform capabilities, develop machine learning advances, and increase our Fellows and Challenge programs to seed technology and applications development, we’re also taking this opportunity to enhance our name.

As of September 5, 2018, the Radiant Earth Foundation replaces Radiant.Earth, strengthening our non-profit identity, lessening any brand confusion that may exist, and removing that awkward “.” between Radiant and Earth.

With this small but important name change, the Radiant Earth Foundation looks forward to continuing its important work on behalf of the global development community, bridging commercial, government, academic and non-profit sectors for improved contributions and benefits.