To spur innovations in geographic exploration for oil, Shell has launched a new innovation studio in Austin.
It’s called Studio X and it launched this month with three initial products focused on the future of exploration and discovery. This is Shell’s first innovation studio in the United States. The company, founded in 1907 as Royal Dutch Shell, is better known as just Shell. It is a global energy company with more than 80,000 employees and 2019 revenues of more than $344 billion.
In 2016, Shell made Fast Company’s most innovative companies list for its use of big data, and analytics. Shell used fiber optic cables to collect readings from oil well sites then crunched that data and analyzed it to determine lifetime productivity. That technology helped the oil giant to more effectively invest in productive oil sites.
Studio X is a place for entrepreneurs, data scientists, geoscientists, software engineers to crowdsource ideas to solve major challenges in energy exploration, according to a news release.
For example, Xeek, offers challenges for innovators to solve. Many of them come with a cash prize. One of the challenges that is launching soon is called “The Rock, the Strike, and the Dip.” “To figure out how the Earth has changed through time geologists collect “strikes and dips” (orientation and angle) from rock outcrops.” The challenge asks someone to come up with a solution to take the measurements using satellite images and radar digital elevation models. The challenge which launches soon has a $10,000 prize.
Studio X also is launching XCover, which is a global talent network for virtual exploration projects. It matches geoscientists to exploration projects. And its incubator, SixLab, provides exploration entrepreneurs with mentors, resources, and facilities.
“Studio X brings tech advances at a challenging time for exploration and the global economy,” Mauhan Zonoozy, Acting GM of Studio X, said in a news release. “The technology within will lead to better ways of working in the exploration field — increasing collaboration and ultimately improving outcomes. Studio X will fuel big ideas, connect a network of global talent with remote work opportunities, empower and guide entrepreneurs and startups, and crowdsource bold solutions to make the ideas of today into the industry-leading tools of tomorrow.”
Studio X is focused on collaboration and breaking down industry silos.
“Studio X was developed by Shell to reimagine the future of work in exploration,” said Marc Gerrits, Shell’s Executive Vice President of Global Exploration. “To meet increasing global energy demand, oil and gas will remain an element of the energy mix for decades to come. By harnessing efficiencies, embracing new technologies, and deploying digital capabilities, Studio X will be at the forefront as the exploration profession evolves.”