Minister S Iswaran, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry), delivered a speech at the Opening Ceremony of Shell’s Make the Future Singapore
Minister S Iswaran, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry), delivered a speech at the Opening Ceremony of Shell’s Make the Future Singapore

Make the Future Singapore 2018, a festival of ideas and innovation for Asia, was launched today at the Changi Exhibition Centre, Singapore, and graced by Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry); Mr Yuri Sebregts, Executive Vice President Technology and Chief Technology Officer, Royal Dutch Shell; and Ms Goh Swee Chen, Chairman of Shell Singapore.

Through virtual reality and hands-on experiences, the festival will take members of the public, representatives from business, academia, governments, and school children on a journey to explore bright ideas from around Asia, to see what is happening now to power our world and get a glimpse of what the future of energy might look like. They will be able to discover what it's like to generate electrical energy by dancing, play interactive games, build and race mini saltwater cars, and meet young scientists and energy start-ups.

Minister S Iswaran interacting with Temasek Polytechnic’s TP ECO FLASH, a new entrant representing Singapore in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia
Minister S Iswaran interacting with Temasek Polytechnic’s TP ECO FLASH, a new entrant representing Singapore in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia

The ceremony featured the flag-off of the ninth Shell Eco-marathon Asia, with 122 student teams from 18 countries across Asia Pacific and the Middle East gathered in Singapore with their self-built vehicles in a competition to be the most energy-efficient. One of the world’s longest-running student competitions, Shell Eco-marathon is a global programme that challenges bright student minds to design and build ultra-energy-efficient cars, and then put them to the test in competition.

“Energy systems are undergoing change at varying rates and degrees of complexity, and this is especially evident in Asia,” said Mr. Yuri Sebregts, Shell Chief Technology Officer. “We want to play our part in the transition towards a low-carbon future, and Shell’s Make the Future Singapore aims to inspire individuals, communities, governments and businesses in the region to come together and drive change in a responsible way. We want this festival to inspire a whole new generation, and to spark conversation, collaboration and innovation around solutions to the global energy challenge.”

The 122 student teams will be competing in either of two categories of the competition: Prototype – futuristic and highly aerodynamic vehicles – or UrbanConcept – highly economical vehicles that resemble today’s cars. 2018 has seen a significant uptake in the UrbanConcept category with a 20% increase as compared to 2017. Students will compete in three different categories based on their selected energy source: Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) spanning gasoline, diesel and ethanol (biofuel); hydrogen fuel cell; and battery electric power.

Of the 10 Singapore teams participating, more than half chose to venture out of the more conventional gasoline-fuelled vehicles and into the Hydrogen and Battery Electric categories. Republic Polytechnic showed one instance of this innovative spirit with the design of their vehicle, which featured a lighter and stronger aluminium chassis strengthened with a honeycomb structure.

Participating Singapore Teams
Schools Teams Participating at Shell Eco-marathon Asia
Institute of Technical Education
  1. ElectroLiTE
  2. DIZEL ELITE
Nanyang Technological University
  1. Nanyang E Drive
  2. NTU Singapore 3D-Printed Car
National University of Singapore
  1. NUS Electric Eco Car
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
  1. H2GO
  2. NP-TurboAce
Republic Polytechnic
  1. RP Mark 1
Singapore University of Technology and Design
  1. SUTD EV Club
Temasek Polytechnic
  1. TP ECO FLASH

Vehicles must pass a detailed technical inspection before they are allowed onto the track to see how far they can go on the least amount of fuel. As of noon today, over 84 student teams have passed the technical inspection, of which seven teams are from Singapore.

The competition culminates in the Drivers’ World Championship (DWC) Asia, an exciting race format. The best teams in the region will compete for their place in the Drivers’ World Championship Grand Final in London on July 8, 2018, in an exciting head-to-head race to find the most energy-efficient driver.

As part of Make the Future Singapore, the second edition of The Bright Ideas Challenge Singapore featured secondary school students imagine solutions for a cleaner energy future. From harnessing electricity from peltier tiles or vibrational energy from sound, these youths are making a mark in the STEM field. Broadrick Secondary Students emerged national champion of The Bright Ideas Challenge after a competitive pitch and won for themselves a fully-funded trip to Make the Future London.

Make the Future Festivals has six Global Partners:

  • Agility: Technical Partner
  • Altair: Technical Partner
  • HP: Festival Partner
  • The Linde Group: Technical Partner
  • Southwest Research Institute: Technical Partner
  • Toyota: Festival Partner

Make the Future Singapore 2018 is held with support from the Singapore Tourism Board, Ministry of Education, Science Centre Singapore, Innosparks, Strides Transportation and Borneo Motors.

For more information on Make the Future Singapore and to register for free tickets to the event, please visit http://sg.makethefuture.shell.

Note to editors:

To access event images, please visit the following URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shell_eco-marathon/.

Speeches:

About Make the Future Singapore

Shell’s Make the Future Singapore, featuring Shell Eco-marathon Asia, returns to Singapore for a second year from March 8-11, 2018. As a festival of ideas and innovation for Asia, this event has the widest geographical reach, accounting for more than 60% of the world’s population. Headlining the event is the Shell Eco-marathon Asia, where futuristic and fuel-efficient cars built by over 120 student teams from around Asia Pacific and the Middle East will compete to be the most energy-efficient.

Make the Future Festivals is Shell’s global platform for conversation, collaboration and innovation around the world’s energy challenges. With events hosted in countries around the globe, they aim to provide an opportunity for multiple stakeholders: including students, entrepreneurs, businesses, governments and the public, to experience, test and contribute bright energy ideas.

About Shell Eco-marathon

One of the world’s longest-running student competitions, Shell Eco-marathon is a global programme that challenges bright student minds to design and build ultra-energy-efficient cars, and then put them to the test in competition.

Shell Eco-marathon Asia will include two key competitions this year. The longest running competition is the Mileage Challenge where teams compete to travel the farthest on the least amount of fuel. In 2017, the winning team of the Asian leg was efficient enough to travel 2,289 kilometres – the distance from Singapore to Chiang Mai, Thailand – on just one litre of fuel!

The second Shell Eco-marathon competition to take place this year in Singapore is Drivers’ World Championship Asia. Introduced to the Shell Eco-marathon programme in 2016, Drivers’ World Championship challenges the best UrbanConcept teams to combine the proven energy efficiency of their car with the speed and skill of their driver, in a race to see who can cross the finish line first on the least amount of fuel.
Shell Eco-marathon is a visible demonstration of Shell’s commitment to help the world meet its growing energy needs in a responsible way by working together with students, partners and other stakeholders.

Enquiries:

Jason Leow
General Manager, External Relations, Shell Singapore
+65 9729 4475/ Jason.Leow@shell.com

Josephine Pang
Senior Client Executive, Edelman Singapore
+65 9115 2743/ Josephine.pang@edelman.com

Cautionary note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement “Shell”, “Shell group” and “Royal Dutch Shell” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ‘‘Subsidiaries’’, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this announcement refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as “joint ventures” and “joint operations” respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as “associates”. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ‘‘anticipate’’, ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘expect’’, ‘‘goals’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘objectives’’, ‘‘outlook’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘probably’’, ‘‘project’’, ‘‘risks’’, “schedule”, ‘‘seek’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘target’’, ‘‘will’’ and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. There can be no assurance that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this announcement. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell’s 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2016 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, March 9, 2018. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov

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