Shell has a long history of advancing innovative technology through collaborations with oil service companies and leading academic institutions. But as the business world has become faster moving and increasingly interconnected, the case for more “open innovation” has become compelling.
Many of the best and brightest ideas are being generated from unlikely partnerships that co-develop solutions for application outside of traditional markets. To harness the power of open innovation we have established a suite of programmes and funding structures that span short and long time horizons, nascent and mature technologies, immediate and future returns.
GameChanger: this programme, open to the public, is designed to prove the commercial viability of an energy-related idea quickly by offering a combination of proof-of-concept funding and technical expertise. Founded in 1996, GameChanger has worked with more than 1,500 innovators and turned more than 100 ideas into productive reality.
Shell Technology Ventures: this is Shell’s corporate-venturing arm. It acts as both investor and partner in companies that are developing promising technologies with a strategic fit to the demands of our businesses. Over the next six to eight years, Shell Technology Ventures plans to invest several hundred million dollars in technologies for application in the oil and gas or renewable-energy industries.
Shell TechWorks: these will be local offices intentionally situated in areas where high-tech businesses thrive. These areas typically have many co-located universities, applied research institutes, start-ups and venture-capitalist firms. The first Shell TechWorks office was opened in 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.