Audun Abelsnes, managing director of Techstars Energy Accelerator, with Ragnhild Ulvik, vice president for corporate innovation in Statoil (photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland/Statoil)

Statoil is partnering with Techstars to create a global accelerator program for innovators and entrepreneurs who aspire to shape the future of energy.

Techstars will reach out through its global network to identify, recruit, and select the world’s ten most promising energy innovators and entrepreneurs to participate in the Techstars Energy Accelerator.

Each of the selected companies will receive an initial funding of USD 120,000 to support compressing 2 years of development work into 13 weeks.

The program will be run in partnership with Statoil and hosted in Oslo with close access to Norway’s world-class energy technology industry. The innovators will be mentored by a global network of experts from Statoil, Techstars and other companies.

“Statoil’s vision is to shape the future of energy. This requires being at the forefront of technology and innovation. We also recognise that the ideas and solutions of the future are as likely to come from outside the company as within. That is why we are excited to engage with innovators and entrepreneurs from all over the world, working on new businesses and developing potentially transformative technologies and business models,” says Statoil’s vice president for corporate innovation, Ragnhild Ulvik.

The accelerator program is part of Statoil’s innovation efforts, and will provide Statoil with an opportunity to explore new ideas and technologies for concrete business challenges together with entrepreneurs and innovators in a new way. In addition, Statoil will have the option to invest in selected innovators through its venture capital entities.

“Unprecedented change is taking place in the energy industry. We have proven that the Techstars model works in several other industries facing change and potential disruption and we are excited to see what kind of ideas and solutions we can accelerate within energy. Statoil is renowned for being innovative and demonstrates a great culture of collaboration. That makes Statoil a great fit for the Techstars global community, and we very much look forward to recruiting the first cohort of innovators together,” says managing director for the Techstars Energy Accelerator, Audun Abelsnes.

Statoil and Techstars plan to announce main theme for the program in November 2017 and open the application process in February 2018. The first Techstars Energy Accelerator program in partnership with Statoil will start in the second half of 2018.