Shell’s Make the Future India 2018 accelerates conversation on future of mobility

The first edition of Make the Future India 2018, featuring the Shell Eco-marathon, kicked off on Saturday at Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai. The occasion was graced by Hon’ble Minister P Thangamani, Minister of State for Electricity, Hon’ble Minister P Benjamin, Minister of State for Rural Industries including Cottage Industries, Small Industries, Pilmore Bedford, British Deputy High Commissioner for South India and Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India.

Flagged off by the minister, the festival brings together academia, government, school children, industry representatives and members of the public to showcase innovations in clean energy and give a glimpse into what the future of energy could look like. Attendees can experience bright energy ideas put into action through project demonstrations from students across the country.

Hon’ble Minister of State for Electricity, P Thangamani, said,” It is commendable to see what Shell has been doing to provide clean energy solutions in India. As we are facing the impact of climate change, it has become essential to look for ways that could reduce our dependency on diesel and petrol and can give us a sustainable future.”

The inaugural ceremony featured the state-of-the-art Shell Eco-marathon, a global program and one of the world’s longest-running student competitions that challenges bright student minds to design and build ultra-energy-efficient cars, and then put them to the test in competition. Teams put their self-built vehicles through a detailed technical and safety inspection before they are allowed on the Madras Motor Race Track to compete under different categories. With 247 students participating across 20 teams, the winning team of the Shell Eco-marathon competition stands to win a total prize money of Rs 20 lakh across various categories. In the competition, teams will prove energy efficiency of their car with the speed and skill of their driver to see who can cross the finish line first on the least amount of fuel.

Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India, said, “Shell Make the Future is a platform that encourages conversation, collaboration and affirmative action around the world’s energy challenges. Endeavours like Make the Future are essential and may help find some solutions to meet the growing energy demand. Shell India stays committed to our ambition to power India’s progress with more and cleaner energy solutions- through our people, partnerships and innovations- for India and the world. India has been part of the Shell Eco-marathon for eight years now and this year we have witnessed participation from close to 250 engineering students at the Shell Eco-marathon. We believe that these engineers define the future of mobility and can play an integral role in India’s energy transition.”

NXplorers Program

Announced at the Make the Future Festival, the NXplorers program is a global initiative to build critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills in school children in the age group of 14-19 years. It equips students with tools and skills necessary to address real-world issue of food-energy-water nexus. The effort is to make them positive agents of change for a sustainable future.  Shell is currently implementing this program in 14 countries across the world.

Partnered with a specialized organization in education, Learning Links Foundation, the NXplorers program runs in schools where teachers and students learn the NXplorers methodologies and tools and engage in addressing real-world issues. The plan is to implement the program in almost 200 schools across states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Delhi-NCR in the first year of its implementation. In the next three years, Shell aims to take NXplorers program to 2,60,000 students in over 3000 schools. During the three-year period, the educational program will also inspire young students, especially girls to take up STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and related fields for higher education.

Dicussions and Debate on Tomorrow’s Energy Challenges

Parallel to the competition, panel discussions engaged auto experts, academicians, professionals from auto companies to talk about the transition to low-carbon energy, at the business forum. Deliberations focused on the changing scenario from fossil energy to electricity, the impact of the new emission standards on the automotive sector and Indian economy, developing future cities having enough resources to fulfil the energy demand and enabling energy-related entrepreneurs to succeed.

The first day of the festival took school-children, Shell’s fuel station staff, industry partners, representatives from business, academicians among others on a journey to explore ideas and innovation, highlighting the future of energy. At the Experience Zone, state-of-the-art demonstrations like the world’s first flat-pack truck, a CNG-powered scooter, and a waste-to-fuel technology - IH2 (Integrated Hydropyrolisis and Hydro conversion)- that converts non-food biomass feedstock such as wood, agricultural residues, algae, aquatic plants and cellulosic fractions of municipal waste – to BSVI grade were put on display.