Managing Deep Tech Development Projects in the Oilfield

Abstract The term "Deep Tech" originally described startup companies which were seeking to apply new scientific or engineering breakthroughs—especially those from the 4IR space—to solve high impact problems. Whether conducted by new or established companies, deep tech development projects require two innovations: a technical innovation creating a new capability and a business innovation applying the capability to a business problem. This need for two innovations creates certain management challenges including: 1) the project must have access to the people and facilities for both innovations, 2) there is increased risk, as failure of either innovation could doom the project, 3) there can be changes in direction as the best intersection between an evolving technical capability and a business need is pursued, 4) commercialization requires a team with sufficient expertise in both the technology and the business need, and 5) the team to support mass utilization of the technology needs understanding of both innovations. We describe how we addressed these challenges in the context of oilfield applications through workflows, performance metrics, and organizational structures.