Shell opens new technology center in Bangalore, India

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands — Shell has opened a new major technology hub in Bangalore, India, expanding the company’s R&D activities in Asia. The 52-acre, custom built technology center can house up to 1,500 experts working collaboratively on innovative projects worldwide.

Shell Technology Center Bangalore (STCB) brings together R&D staff who previously worked at separate locations in Bangalore and also provides additional space for high-tech innovation and demonstration facilities. By housing all R&D staff in Bangalore in one center, the technology hub will create new opportunities for multi-disciplinary collaboration, and drive relevant and affordable innovations.

“Innovation and technology are vital to providing more and cleaner energy solutions for a growing world population,” says Harry Brekelmans, Shell’s projects and technology director. “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 buzzes with innovation.”

The new center houses a variety of technical experts, laboratories and technology demonstration units. It is home to a wide spectrum of technical disciplines and specific expertise in fields such as liquefied natural gas, subsurface modelling, data analysis, engineering design, bitumen, distillation and enhanced computational research. The center is also helping to pioneer efforts to turn forestry, agricultural and municipal waste into transportation fuels, with a new demonstration plant being built at the site.

Specialists at Shell Technology Center Bangalore work closely with experts from external industrial partners, universities and institutes. These collaborations help 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.

Shell Technology Center Bangalore is one of the three main technology hubs in the company’s global network of R&D centres, with the other two located in the Netherlands and the U.S. More than 4,000 staff work at these hubs and smaller technical centers on a broad range of projects, such as turning natural gas into more efficient and cleaner fuels, developing affordable technologies to unlock energy thousands of meters below the sea surface, and R&D projects on low carbon technologies.

Source: www.worldoil.com