The oil & gas industry currently finds itself in a rapidly changing and challenging environment; there are signals of disruption in the overall business environment that necessitate an understanding of the basics and potential implementation of technology. As the global energy system evolves and environmental, social and regulatory expectations change, there is a need for the industry to increase its awareness of, develop, and support technologies to decrease costs and carbon intensity.
The figure at right is taken from an article on innovation in the Harvard Business Review1; the concepts of core, adjacent, and transformational innovation are described in the figure. The focus of the Suncor Academic Forum will be early-stage transformational technologies and the fundamental interdisciplinary R&D that will be critical to their advancement.

Against this background, the Forum Objectives are:

1. To attract to the Forum, researchers from all over the world pursuing R&D in subject areas with transformational potential (examples subject areas described in more detail below);
2. To increase the intersection and collisions between external innovators and researchers with Suncor’s R&D and technology development activities;
3. To kick off the creation of a Collaboration Network of fundamental researchers and Suncor technology developers in support of transformational technology aspirations;
4. To create a draft framework for the Collaboration Network, partly funded by Suncor and with the goal to actively seek leveraged funding from external funding organizations.

Subject Areas of Interest (not exhaustive)

Suncor’s Technology Development activities are organized into three broad Strategic Focus Areas or SFA’s:

1. Bitumen Value Chain Optimization (BVCO);
2. Low-Intensity Electricity, Heat and Hydrogen (LIEH);
3. Renewable Liquid Fuels (RLF);

The Organizers are seeking to attract to the Forum world-class R&D in subject areas that cut across multiple focus areas, including, but not limited to:

• Fundamentals of chemistry applied to thermal conversion and / or hydroprocessing of bitumen;
• Advances in analytical methods for bitumen characterization (e.g. NMR, Synchrotron radiation, etc.);
• Cross-disciplinary approaches to characterization and upgrading of bitumen: e.g., large molecule synthetic biology and pharmacology;
• Nanotechnology and nanocatalysis for bitumen conversion, power generation, and renewable liquid fuels manufacture;
• Application of atomic scale imaging to catalysts used for bitumen conversion;
• Ionic liquid fundamentals and application to bitumen recovery and upgrading, CO2 capture, and biomass conversion;

Contact Information:

For additional information or questions, contact the Conference Organizing Committee: SuncorAcademicForum@suncor.com 

Abstract Submission:

Abstracts should not exceed one page in length and must be submitted by June 18th, 2018. Abstracts must follow the format shown in the attached template.

Abstracts should be submitted as a Word file via email to this address: SuncorAcademicForum@suncor.com 

Key Dates:

June 18th, 2018 – Deadline for Abstract Submissions
July 3rd, 2018 – Deadline for Organizers to Invite Full Paper Submissions based on Abstracts Received
August 27th, 2018 – Full Papers Due
October 9th to 11th, 2018 – Forum Dates