The Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub consists of a team dedicated to long-term innovation – exploring how customer needs will change over the next 10 years today.
The future solutions factory: The Shell Discovery Hub
Learn about the team of scientists exploring the future of innovation to uncover tomorrow’s lubrication challenges
Key Takeaways
-
-
The Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub team focuses on innovation led by five broad themes: co-engineering, digital, sustainability, product performance, and impactful demonstrations. Underpinned by a core program that includes expert capabilities in lubrication science, modelling, and evaluation of novel components.
-
Collaboration and partnerships are a vital element of how the Shell Discovery Hub delivers its innovative solutions. The team works closely with a range of businesses, academics, and universities to create new projects and publish research.
-
Despite the tension between short-term targets and long-term innovation, it’s important for Shell to have a team dedicated to anticipating future challenges and developing solutions in response. Without this, there would be no long-term options for product development – increasing the risk of disruption and making it harder to meet changing customer needs.
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology, Shell
With more than 15 years of industry experience, Sarah manages the geographically and technically diverse team of scientists and engineers that make up the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub team. With a doctorate from Oxford University, she’s a leading expert in lubricant technology research and development.
Ask the Experts | Sarah Matthews | The Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub
Read the transcript
Title: The Future Solutions Factory: Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub
Duration:2:39 minutes
Description:
A short Q&A style video with Sarah Matthews, Lubricants Technology Ream Lead. The video summarises the Shell Discovery Hub – a team dedicated to long-term innovation that you can read all about.
The video includes b-roll footage, recorded footage of the interviewee and animated infographics to illustrate what the Shell Discovery Hub is and work scientists are doing to explore the future of innovation to uncover tomorrow’s lubrication challenges.
The Future Solutions Factory: Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub – Q&A Video Transcript
[Background music plays]
Bright, uplifting music is played in the background.
[B-roll footage]
The camera pans across a zoomed in molecule and text enters the frame from the left-hand side.
[Text displays]
Ask the Experts 04
The Future Solutions Factory: Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
A yellow frame appears with text cascading onto the left-hand side of the frame and an image of pipettes of lubricants is shown on the right-hand side of the frame. The text transitions off the frame to leave a full-scale image of the pipettes of lubricant.
[Text displays]
Ask the Experts 04
Question 1
What is the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub?
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Text displays]
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology
[Spoken word]
So the discovery hub was created in 2012, really to ensure that global lubricants were dedicating sufficient time and effort to innovation activity
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[B-roll footage]
A scientist in full lab gear is looking down a telescope at petri dishes.
[Spoken word]
So we are really a team that is dedicated to scouting future opportunities.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Animated infographic]
An animated infographic cascades onto the screen. An animated illustration appears on the screen of a bar graph increasing in height from numbers 1 to 10. A lightbulb icon then appears on the left.
[Spoken word]
So we look on a 10 year time horizon and we communicate those foresights and insights to our lubricants community
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Spoken word]
Across the portfolio, so that can be from passenger car engine oils to thermal fluids for
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[B-roll footage]
Mechanics working on a car engine, then fades into a glass jar containing E-fluids with 2 test tubes within it. The final shot is panning across laser cutters.
[Spoken word]
Battery cooling and transmission efluids, greases, sensor technology, for effective oil conditioning monitoring, so right across the lubricants portfolio.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
A yellow frame appears with text cascading onto the left-hand side of the frame and an image of lab workers is shown on the right-hand side of the frame. The text transitions off the frame to leave a full-scale image of the lab workers holding a test tube.
[Text displays]
Ask the Experts 04
Question 2
What projects has the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub been working on?
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Text displays]
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology
[Spoken word]
We have many other projects that look different, they can be collaborative research projects with university partners and they can be experimental programmes
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[B-roll footage]
A shot of Imperial College London – with students walking across the campus. The shot ends with a zoom in on the Imperial College London logo.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Animated infographic]
An animated infographic cascades onto the screen. An animated illustration appears on the screen a yellow icon with two hands shaking. There are 4 arrows leading out of the icon – one reads “university partners”, another reads “research and development”, the third one reads “research projects” and the final one reads “research papers”.
[Spoken word]
That we work on in conjunction with our development teams. We’ve nurtured a vibrant programme of research with strategic university partners, Imperial College London, MIT, Tsinghua and we’ve partnered with one of our key customers
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Text displays]
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology
[Spoken word]
That we work on in conjunction with our development teams. We’ve nurtured a vibrant programme of research with strategic university partners, Imperial College London, MIT, Tsinghua and we’ve partnered with one of our key customers
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[B-roll footage]
A shot of an electric white car being charged. The shot then the scene transfers to a 3D screen with images of batteries
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Text displays]
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology
[Spoken word]
And we’ve tackled topics together such as fuel efficiency, oil durability and now we’re looking forwards to the electrification of their fleet and their requirements for effective battery thermal management.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Frame]
A yellow frame appears with text cascading onto the left-hand side of the frame and an image of efluids is shown on the right-hand side of the frame. The text transitions off the frame to leave a full-scale image of blue efluids dripping into tubes.
[Text displays]
Ask the Experts 04
Question 3
What innovations can we expect to see in the future?
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Text displays]
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology
[Spoken word]
Sustainability really underpins our recently refreshed lubricants strategy
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Animated infographic]
An animated infographic cascades onto the screen. An animated illustration appears on the screen a yellow icon of logs with an arrow pointing to an icon of a leaf being zoomed in on with a magnifying glass.
[Spoken word]
So whether that’s in our choice of raw materials to reduce the carbon intensity of our products, our lubricant products or whether that’s increased opportunity for circularity to help reduce waste.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[B-roll footage]
A shot three business men moving post-it notes around a whiteboard whilst conversing.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Animated infographic]
An animated infographic cascades onto the screen. An animated illustration appears on the screen of three icons. The first icon is a lubricants bottle with the words “Fully sustainable water-based lubricants”, the middle icon is a battery with a snowflake on it and it reads “Optimised battery charging and cooling for EVs”. The final icon is tubs of calcium and it reads “Greases formulated from calcium”.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[B-roll footage]
A test tube is filled up with lubricant
[Frame]
Recorded footage of the interviewee Sarah Matthews appears on the screen and a title card is visible on the top left-hand side of the frame which includes the full name and job title/role of the interviewee.
[Text displays]
Sarah Matthews, Team Lead, Lubricants Technology
[Spoken word]
Alongside that, we are also working collaboratively with key partners to reduce the carbon intensity of our lubricant product portfolio. Also, electrification the vehicle fleet means that we will see new performance fluids for battery cooling and also to provide the lubrication requirements for any transmission. Looking forward it’s a very exciting time to work on lubricants innovation, lots of new opportunity in this space, particularly from a sustainability point of view.
[Scene Transition]
Next scene/frame appears
[Animated sequence]
Shell Lubricant Solutions wordmark and Shell Pecten logo sit on the frame.
[Text displays]
Shell Lubricant Solutions.
The challenge
It can be difficult to step away from day-to-day operations and explore what the future looks like for an organisation. But a focus on short-term results can often come at the cost of long-term innovation and success.
The solution
For some businesses, collaborating with start-ups and entrepreneurs is the way to drive their longer-term innovation. At Shell, however, the collaboration happens in-house with the Shell Discovery Hub, a dedicated team created to drive long-term innovation and develop the lubricant technologies of the future.
Going behind the scenes of the Shell Discovery Hub
Created in 2012 to focus more time and effort on innovation, the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub is a unique part of the wider Shell business. Its mission is to address challenges that require new thinking, exploring what the lubricants landscape will look like over the next decade and beyond – while meeting the needs of customers today.
“We’re a team that’s dedicated to scouting future opportunities,” explains Sarah Matthews, the Team Lead for Lubricants Technology at Shell. “Within a 10-year time horizon, we proactively scout and share those foresights, we build fundamental knowledge and share those insights with the wider lubricants community, to help deliver innovative solutions for the future.”
We look at a 10-year time horizon, building fundamental knowledge around the lubrication mechanisms we’ll need in the future then sharing those insights with the wider lubricants community.
Alongside providing these insights, the team plays a key role in enhancing Shell’s technology leadership by publishing research papers, attending significant conferences or events, and showcasing their innovations to external audiences.
“We also work closely with some of our key customers to develop our shared understanding of future challenges,” says Matthews. “Together, we create technical solutions that not only provide the basis for new products and services but also really strengthen our relationships with our partners.”
For Matthews, having a team dedicated to long-term lubricants innovation is essential. “I think we need a team that has the space to think, reflect and really take time to define the research questions that we want to answer,” she says. “And from that, we can explore the output that we want to deliver to our product and service development teams. It’s vital we have a full pipeline of mid- to long-term options ready for them to work with.”
Helping to build the business case for that approach is the fact that companies with a long-term mindset typically see 47% more growth than those focused on the short term.1 But that doesn’t necessarily reduce the tension between short-term targets and long-term success.
“It does require a bit of discipline to retain that focus when we know that the business has more immediate needs,” says Matthews. “But without the Shell Discovery Hub, we don't have a funnel of options for future product development. It's important that we’re looking ahead, anticipating the problems and opportunities we may face – and creating the innovative solutions that meet our customers’ long-term needs.”
Exploring the lubricant technology of tomorrow
As Matthews highlights, the Shell Discovery Hub’s focus goes beyond the next development cycle for products and services. “The aim is to deliver innovative new solutions that our development teams can use to create the lubricants and services of tomorrow,” she explains.
Laying the foundations for product and service development isn’t the only way the team contributes to the wider lubricants business. They also create new experimental methods and mathematical modelling techniques to support product claims and troubleshoot issues encountered in the field.
“From energy efficiency and electrification to digital and co-engineering, our innovation themes make sure we balance long-term projects with the ability to meet short-term goals.”
“For us, it's really about delivering value to our product and service development teams,” Matthews continues. “That can be anything, from passenger car engine oils to thermal fluids for battery cooling and transmission to sensor technology for effective oil condition monitoring. We work across the entire lubricants portfolio.”
To achieve this, the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub builds its projects around a set of innovation led themes, including:
- Co-engineering
- Digital
- Sustainability
- Product Performance
- Impactful Demonstrations
These broad areas make sure that each project links back to the customer need – even if the customers don’t yet know they have those needs.
“So, for example, we’ll explore elements like the control of friction and wear, extending oil life and enhancing energy efficiency,” says Matthews. “And key insights that have come from this process include a better understanding of fluid requirements in both electric vehicles (EVs) and engines that run on alternative fuels.”
Over time, the innovation themes have evolved alongside Shell’s lubricants strategy and will continue to do so.
How the Shell Discovery Hub delivers for development teams
It’s important to emphasise the customer impact of the work that the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub team does. Despite their long-term view of lubrication, their projects aren’t just a future-gazing exercise. Every innovation is designed to eventually deliver real-world value to Shell customers.
An example of this is the co-engineering collaborations between the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub and key customers. Delivering innovative research programmes of mutual interest to Shell and key customers, has expanded both the teams’ technical knowledge and put Shell in a better position to meet future business requirements.
The Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub’s collaborative approach also sees the team working with three key strategic university partners: Imperial College London, MIT and Tsinghua University.
The relationship with Imperial College London has yielded positive results and has led to the creation of more than 20 research projects and the presentation of more than 50 research papers. Embedded within the university, the Shell Lubricants Discovery Hub team works closely with several departments to solve significant technology challenges and help to deliver next-generation lubricant products.
So far, this collaboration has poured its expertise into:
- Fully sustainable water-based lubricants
- Optimised battery charging and cooling for EVs
- Greases formulated from calcium (to reduce the world’s dependence on lithium for batteries)
“I'm proud of these collaborations. I think they really help us to deliver much more in the innovation space,” says Matthews. “Whether we’re thinking about fuel efficiency, oil durability or effective battery thermal management to support electrification, lubricant requirements are becoming more demanding. That’s why we work closely with our customers, partners and development teams to co-engineer solutions that overcome their biggest technical challenges.”
Where next for the team exploring the future of lubrication?
So what innovations can customers expect to see emerging in the coming years? For Matthews, decarbonisation will be a critical driver for the team as every industry works to achieve their net-zero targets.
“Our focus on sustainability is what really underpins our recently refreshed lubricant strategy,” she explains. “Whether it’s our choice of raw materials to reduce the carbon intensity of products or the exploration of new opportunities for circularity to reduce waste, this innovation theme is already a significant driving force behind our projects, and we’ll see the results of that arrive in our mid- to long-term portfolio.”
Electrification is another key area for the Shell Discovery Hub as the teams works on new performance fluids and battery cooling solutions, all designed to make it easier for businesses to make the switch to EVs.
“It's an exciting time to work on lubricants innovation. There’s plenty of opportunity in this space, especially when it comes to helping our customers deliver on their sustainability ambitions.”
Wherever the future takes the Shell Discovery Hub team, their expertise and dedication to long-term innovation means they’ll have mapped any changes coming and will be prepared with an array of solutions designed to meet the customer needs of tomorrow.
Disclaimers
1 Forbes. “Short-Termism Is Hurting Companies And Costing Lives.” 2022
Related Content
Our Perspectives Content Hub
The world is changing, and new ways of thinking and working are needed to enable businesses to transform and decarbonise. Our ‘Perspectives’ content hub shares insights and ideas to help business leaders realise the potential of their people and organisation.
Lubricants for Automotive Components
Our lubricants for automotive components are designed to help enhance the performance of your finished products and factory operations. Find out more.
How a skills gap is holding up digital transformation in construction
Explore the paradox preventing construction businesses from investing in machine control and automation technologies.