Shell and Schlumberger want to cooperate more closely with Applied Earth Sciences. The companies want to discuss their R&D strategies with the university and share employees and laboratories.
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Representatives of Shell and Schlumberger expressed their interest in forging closer links with the faculty of Applied Earth Sciences at a conference last Friday. The conference was organised for Prof. Stefan Luthi, a former employee of Schlumberger, who also delivered his inaugural speech at the conference. Schlumberger, an international company that makes measuring apparatus for oil companies, is paying for half of Luthi’s full-time professorship at TU Delft.
The companies are interested in closer cooperation because they believe this will make it cheaper to keep up with new technologies. For Schlumberger, the old way of developing new technologies was to set up their own lab. Now, the company prefers to build up a contact with a top university in the field by, for instance, posting one of their own employees to a university for two years. When this employee returns to the company, he’ll have gained valuable expertise in the new field and be able to maintain contact with the university. The company can then easily coordinate the sponsoring of future projects.
The companies also gain access to additional governmental funding if they establish structural partnerships with universities. Shell only started applying for European Union grants a few years ago because, previously, the company did not have the structural contacts with universities needed for making project proposals.
TU-professor Cor van Kruijsijk is also interested in closer cooperation with the companies. “They can provide us with interesting field data and practical problems. However, companies must keep on investing in their own research and development activities, because we want to be able to communicate with somebody who’s not only thinking in dollars.”
Shell and Schlumberger are not only interested in joint research; they also want to become better known among graduate students because attracting graduates is increasingly difficult. Schlumberger, therefore, is partly sponsoring a student field trip to their company and also intend to invest in start-up companies.
Shell and Schlumberger want to cooperate more closely with Applied Earth Sciences. The companies want to discuss their R&D strategies with the university and share employees and laboratories.
Representatives of Shell and Schlumberger expressed their interest in forging closer links with the faculty of Applied Earth Sciences at a conference last Friday. The conference was organised for Prof. Stefan Luthi, a former employee of Schlumberger, who also delivered his inaugural speech at the conference. Schlumberger, an international company that makes measuring apparatus for oil companies, is paying for half of Luthi’s full-time professorship at TU Delft.
The companies are interested in closer cooperation because they believe this will make it cheaper to keep up with new technologies. For Schlumberger, the old way of developing new technologies was to set up their own lab. Now, the company prefers to build up a contact with a top university in the field by, for instance, posting one of their own employees to a university for two years. When this employee returns to the company, he’ll have gained valuable expertise in the new field and be able to maintain contact with the university. The company can then easily coordinate the sponsoring of future projects.
The companies also gain access to additional governmental funding if they establish structural partnerships with universities. Shell only started applying for European Union grants a few years ago because, previously, the company did not have the structural contacts with universities needed for making project proposals.
TU-professor Cor van Kruijsijk is also interested in closer cooperation with the companies. “They can provide us with interesting field data and practical problems. However, companies must keep on investing in their own research and development activities, because we want to be able to communicate with somebody who’s not only thinking in dollars.”
Shell and Schlumberger are not only interested in joint research; they also want to become better known among graduate students because attracting graduates is increasingly difficult. Schlumberger, therefore, is partly sponsoring a student field trip to their company and also intend to invest in start-up companies.
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