Innovation not only comes from within the company, but also from an efficient and open innovation atmosphere. We use cross-domain cooperation to sparkle thinking and intelligent crowdfunding to break technical bottlenecks in the industry.

As the world's largest energy and chemicals company, innovation is the primary weapon Shell uses to meet the challenges of the new energy future. But in a company of this size, the efficiency of innovation is problematic. When the market generates a specific need, the signal is sent to the R&D department, the solution is formed and then goes to the business unit, the chain is too long and reflects too inefficiently on business growth. That's why Shell has set up the Innovation Factory, which brings fresh ideas and expertise to Shell from the outside in, bringing together experts from different industries and different experiences, and bringing together proven technologies from other industries to deliver a wide range of solutions.

On 21 March 2015, the Shell Innovation Workshop workshop, co-hosted by BVIC and Umore, was a fierce brainstorming session on water treatment in the oil and gas sector.

As the organizer of the workshop, Dr. Qun Deng, General Manager of Shell Innovation Works, Dr. Chang Wang, Product Manager of Shell China, and Dr. Lingli Wei, R&D Manager of Shell China, attended the event, hoping that the experts could put their heads together and explore solutions to the water treatment challenges in the oil and gas industry.

During the event, Mr. Zhang Gang, an engineer from Sinopec Shengli Oilfield, shared the pain points encountered in water treatment in the oil production process and the attempts he had made, which represented the advanced level of research and development in China and even internationally, and the large amount of human and financial resources invested, but still could not effectively solve the existing problems. Meanwhile, the teachers from Tongji University, China University of Petroleum and Tianjin University of Technology also proposed cross-disciplinary solutions, and combined with the relevant experience of water treatment in other industries, such as GE, Zhongke Guotong, etc., they finally established the research objectives, preliminary solutions and possible difficulties, and formed the idea of establishing a water treatment R&D center in China, which will be followed up in the workshop activities. Further in-depth discussion and advancement.