IIT-Madras, Shell India collaborate to open Shell IITM Centre for Energy Research

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Energy Consortium and Shell India have collaborated to set up the 'Shell IITM Centre for Energy Research' (SICER). The collaboration will be centralized under SICER for five years and aim to promote innovation, research, development, piloting, and commercialization in the energy sector.

As a part of the program, Satyanarayanan Seshadri has been appointed as the inaugural Shell Chair Professor at IIT Madras. He currently serves as the head of the energy consortium and is a faculty member in the Department of Applied Mechanics and biomedical engineering at the institute. As per the official press release, he brings with him a wealth of expertise and his leadership will play a vital role in steering research endeavors at the newly established center and promoting partnerships between the academic and industrial sectors.

Partnership objective

The main goals include fostering research partnerships to address significant challenges and opportunities in the energy transition sector, supporting energy start-ups through the resources of IIT Madras' start-up network, facilitating knowledge exchange between Shell and IIT Madras through the Shell Chair Professorship, and maintaining Shell's involvement in the Energy Consortium.

Promote innovation and research

Highlighting the unique aspects of this partnership, Ajay Mehta, VP Engineering Technology, Shell, said, “We are proud to expand our partnership with IIT Madras with the launch of the Shell IITM Centre for Energy Research (SICER), demonstrating our commitment to promoting open innovation, research, and technology development across the wide spectrum of the energy transition. We have had several successful bilateral research and development (R&D) projects with IIT Madras in the past. This collaboration will further enable us to share our knowledge and resources with IITM while leveraging their expertise, R and D facilities, and innovation ecosystem to address one of the world’s most critical challenges – the energy transition.”

Speaking about this collaboration, Dr. Satyanarayanan Seshadri, Shell Chair Professor, IIT Madras, said, “As the Shell Chair Professor, I am honored to lead the research efforts at SICER. Our mission is to unlock the full potential of our partnership by leveraging our shared interests in areas such as R&D and startup incubation, while also actively seeking out new opportunities for collaboration.”

Further, Nikhil Tambe, CEO, the Energy Consortium-IIT Madras, said, “We are excited to announce the launch of the SICER, as well as the appointment of Seshadri as our inaugural shell chair professor. This event represents a significant step forward and will galvanize our collaborative efforts in strategic areas of advanced energy research and innovation in close collaboration with shell.”

Disclaimer: This content was distributed by IIT Madras and published as part of Careers360’s marketing initiative.