The satellite connectivity industry had a massive year in 2022. Starlink said it surpassed 1 million subscribers, SpaceX broke its launch record, Apple spent almost half a billion dollars getting into the satellite direct-to-device game, and a host of startups moved closer to building out their constellations.

Jack Fritz, principal at Deloitte, told Emerging Tech Brew that in 2023, “a lot is going to be building on the foundation that was set in 2022” as more constellations are announced and existing ones continue to launch their satellites.

• Deloitte predicts this year will end with 5,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO), up from an estimated ~700 in 2020.
• If every constellation currently in planning works out, that number could skyrocket to 40,000–50,000 satellites by 2030, per Deloitte.

“I think the financial health of some of the entrants has been solidified over the last year, year and a half. And so now they can move more and focus on forward growth and establishing the business,” Fritz said. “Deals are obviously signed around getting a certain number of satellites launched in kind of defined time windows. Now the clock is ticking.”

Big picture: Much of this modern space race is in service of the next phase of connectivity. Major telcos, tech giants, and space companies are competing and collaborating to build infrastructure for satellite-based connectivity that aims to provide coverage in remote and harder-to-connect areas, from the middle of the woods to airplanes.

But with the growth in satellites for these purposes comes growth in related areas, from space junk removal to management and operations. Here are the space segments that experts think will take off in 2023.—JM

To misquote Ferris Bueller: Tech moves pretty fast.

One minute, IT pros are studying up for cloud certifications. The next minute, they’re exploring AI and asking chatbots to write haikus.

Emerging technologies, by definition, haven’t arrived yet—and neither have a ton of the experts.

In response to its expeditious nature, companies are showing interest in “upskilling” or improving the skills of their own employees, rather than looking outside the organization for talent.

• According to end-of-year reports, like the consulting firm Protiviti’s Executive Perspectives on Top Risks for 2023 and 2032 survey, upskilling is in.

“Respondents are telling us how important it is to focus on the upskilling and reskilling of existing employees because the talent they need is not walking the street,” said Jim DeLoach, Protiviti’s managing director at a December panel on corporate risk in New York City.

Working 10 jobs. A Tech Trends 2023 report from the advisory Deloitte noted how companies now seek the “10-job engineer,”—a multiskilled specialist versus, say, a whiz in Python. Keep reading the story from IT Brew here.—BH

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I run a company that leverages proprietary technology and a distributed supply chain to grow local, organic mushrooms for everybody. We’re growing locally wherever you buy our products, and we grow with zero pesticides on industrial byproducts, making us one of the most environmentally sustainable products you can find on the planet.

What’s your favorite emerging tech project you’ve worked on?

Smallhold! We have our own patented control system called FarmLinc, we’re capturing hundreds of thousands of data points per day, allowing us to imitate natural environments to grow beautiful, farmers’ market-quality mushrooms for the masses.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

I’m excited about energy production innovation—we need to figure out how to scale newer, cleaner ways of producing energy, or figure out ways to educate [or] rebrand older, still efficient, environmentally friendly sources of energy as well.

I am least optimistic about the one-hour delivery space. I think consumer habits need to change if we’re going to continue to exist on this planet, [and] I think the current state of the industry is making a lot of sacrifices to get people small amounts of food in short periods of time.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

I’m a classically trained cellist. The first money into the company was from my playing at someone’s wedding; it allowed us to buy the shipping container that we started in.

Stat: In Q3, Tesla made $15,653 in gross profit on each car it sold, per Reuters—more than double Volkswagen’s gross profit per vehicle, four times Toyota’s, and five times Ford’s.

Quote: “Solar really has come into its own in the last few years. If I go back three or four years, the majority of what we were doing was wind…And then, really, about two years ago, it started to just flip.”—Brian Janous, GM of energy and renewables at Microsoft, to Emerging Tech Brew

Read: How Facebook’s Portal almost lived on…via a licensing deal with Amazon, per BuzzFeed News.

Farewell, fraudsters: 91% of companies surveyed reported an increase in fraud last year. Alloy’s State of Fraud Benchmark Report examines how fintech companies are dodging disasters and mitigating risk. Get the report here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Another Monday, another chance to go five for five on our weekly news quiz.

Click here to play.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Microsoft is one of the world’s biggest solar buyers—here’s why
• What’s ahead for the struggling smart-speaker market?
• 2023 could be a big year for small cells