please enter please select

NEWS & INSIGHTS | Opinion

Two years on: driving technology in a changing landscape

23 April 2019
Written by Colette Cohen OBE

In 2016 The Oil & Gas Technology Centre was conceived as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal and officially opened its doors in Feb 2017. It has been a journey of passion, determination and entrepreneurship – a true partnership between a breadth of stakeholders including government, industry, academia, regulators and community. This journey is driven by all of our stakeholders and in particular, the people in the OGTC who believe in the future of the North Sea and this community.

Today, we have more than £100M co-invested with industry to develop and deploy technology to make a difference in the North Sea and beyond, helping anchor our supply chain in the north east and creating a strong culture of innovation.  Ultimately our goal is to help the industry deliver Vision 2035.

But in the last two years since the OGTC began investing, the landscape we operate in has also evolved, we find ourselves firmly within an industrial transition. Moving towards a highly connected digitised world with new climate targets impacting both our industry’s social license to operate and the policies being approved by governments and investors worldwide.

We as an industry must position ourselves to embrace this new reality and develop the technology and processes required to thrive within it. By doing so we can turn the industrial transition into an opportunity for our industry, realising the much longer-term potential for the UK’s oil and gas industry as well as the export potential for our supply chain. 

To focus our investment on the technologies that will maximise the economic recovery from the North Sea and drive a culture of innovation in the region, we are launching new technology roadmaps that underpin our 10-year strategy.  They support the full breadth of our organisation, from our investment in young start-ups and established technology developers through academia and of course developing the next generation of talent. 

Please take time to view these and contact us if you think there is an opportunity to work together. 

In the coming months, we will be sharing a range of new completed project case studies, from innovative inspection techniques through to ground-breaking integrated energy technology. We will also continue to provide highlights of the live projects currently underway. 

Our door is always open at the OGTC.  We host a range of regular industry, community and schools activity – including our flagship Tech20 Friday events.  With over 16,000 visitors to date, it’s a constant hive of activity. You’re welcome to take part in these through our events page of the website.

And if you have a great idea which helps progress one of our challenges on our roadmaps – get in touch!

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you in the OGTC soon.

Colette Cohen 

CEO – The Oil & Gas Technology Centre 

Subscribe for the latest updates

Related