The Hague-based LNG giant Shell on Friday opened a new technology hub in Bangalore, India, expanding the company’s research and development activities in Asia.
The 52-acre, custom built technology centre can house up to 1,500 experts working collaboratively on projects worldwide.
Shell Technology Centre 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, Shell said in a statement.
By housing all R&D staff in Bangalore in one centre, the technology hub will create new opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration, and drive relevant and affordable innovations, according to Shell.
The new centre 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 centre 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, Shell said.
Specialists at Shell Technology Centre 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, it said.
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 Centre 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 USA.
More than 4,000 staff work at these hubs and smaller technical centres 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 metres below the sea surface, and R&D projects on low carbon technologies, Shell added.