Shell’s New Technology Hub To Focus On Computational, IH2 Technologies

Shell on Friday (March 31) opened a new major technology hub in Bengaluru spread across 52 acres, custom built, and that can house up to 1,500 employees. The centre is one of the three main technology hubs in Shell’s global network of R&D centres, with the other two located in the Netherlands and Houston.

The Bengaluru centre will focus on areas such as liquefied natural gas, subsurface modelling, data analysis, engineering design, bitumen, distillation, water technology, and enhanced computational research. The centre is also using its IH2 (waste to fuel) technology to turn forestry, agricultural, and municipal waste into transportation fuels, with a new demonstration plant being built at the site.

Harry Brekelmans, Shell’s Projects & Technology Director, present for the centre’s opening said “Innovation and technology are vital to providing more and cleaner energy solutions for a growing world population. We consider R&D a fundamental part of Shell’s past and future success. Therefore, we continue to invest in people, projects and facilities, such as this high-tech hub. Successful innovation however, is more than just making balanced investments. Collaboration across different disciplines and with other sectors externally is a key enabler of successful innovation.

And collaboration is essential to meet our biggest challenge: timely development and deployment of the best and affordable energy solutions, for today and for the future as the world transitions to a low carbon energy system. Our new Bangalore technology hub brings together the right people in a city that is synonymous with innovation”

 Specialists at the Shell Technology Centre in Bengaluru will work closely with experts from external industrial partners, universities, and institutes. “These collaborations help to ensure a healthy influx of new ideas and speed up the deployment of new technology in our operations. Examples include chemistry and catalysis research with the Indian Institutes of Technology and collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the area of advanced computing,” the company said in a release.

Nitin Prasad, Chairman of Shell Companies in India added, “The centre is slated to play a prominent role in Shell India’s aspiration to custom-build a portfolio of new energy solutions specifically suited to India’s energy challenges. The IH2 – waste to fuel - technology that we are currently piloting here in Bengaluru, among other automotive solutions in fuels and lubricants, is an example of that vision coming to life. As this centre becomes fully functional and scales up, we hope to work on several more pioneering technologies that will contribute to India’s and the region’s sustainable energy future.”

 To complement the centre’s opening, Shell brought the ‘Make The Future Accelerator’ programme to India for the first time. The competition aims to encourage and accelerate the ecosystem of startups for the development of bright energy ideas around the world. As part of its India chapter, after contending with several other participants on parameters of innovation, sustainability, disruptive nature of entry and impact to India, Bengaluru-based startup Graviky Labs won this year’s competition. Their business idea is based on a retrofit technology that repurposes vehicular air pollution into art ink, known as ‘Kaalink’. Graviky Labs has been awarded a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.