Calling radical innovators! Deadline for Open Innovation Challenge

GE Oil & Gas and Statoil’s global search for solution to improve water management in shale development is reaching its final stages – with just two weeks left to enter the competition.

The deadline for submissions to the GE and Statoil Open Innovation challenge is Thursday, September 24, 2015. We are seeking innovative technologies to reduce the use of fresh water during the completion and production phases of shale oil and gas development.

The Challenge is crowdsourced and open to all: academics, engineers, individual innovators, and companies of any size. Up to five winners will be awarded an initial cash prize of $25,000 USD each, with an additional $375,000 USD available as a discretionary prize pool of development funds.

Learn the details on the innovate page: http://innovate.statoil.com/Pages/default.aspx

You don’t need to be an expert in shale oil and gas development. A much talked about article by Harvard Business shows that sometimes the ‘Best Ideas Come from Outside Your Industry ’https://hbr.org/2014/11/sometimes-the-best-ideas-come-from-outside-your-industry. This was certainly true during the first challenge, where the winners haled from a cross section of businesses including the medical, industrial and semiconductor industries.

Have you ever considered innovations from other industries to use in the energy sector? Post your comments below and help us identify better and more efficient ways to do business.