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They pour in by the hundreds each year, with details provided in papers, complicated engineering diagrams or intricate models. But despite their many differences, they all have one thing in common — the potential to provide a new technology for the development of Canada’s oil sands.

While inventors, technology proponents and third-party vendors must now wait until individual OSLI companies can find the time to review their inventions, OSLI is speeding up the process by establishing an independent technology portal.

“OSLI companies get several hundred unsolicited ideas from third-party vendors and inventors each year, and many of them are worthy of consideration although it’s a very time-consuming process,” says Victor del Valle, chair of OSLI’s Technology Breakthrough Working Group and head of the portal project.

“So we thought, ‘what if we put together a group that could look at these ideas and use a comparative grid to evaluate and prioritize where the invention is at in terms of development and then present it to the companies?’”

For OSLI companies, the portal will provide a structured, standardized evaluation process for new technologies. At the same time, it will provide a neutral and confidential portal for technology and service providers who can simultaneously access all OSLI companies.

To ensure its independence, the portal is being established as a stand-alone company, with its own executive director and board of governors. Evaluations of new technologies will be conducted with the assistance of subject matter experts from academia, industry, NGOs and other research organizations.

The evaluations will be presented to the OSLI network using non-confidential propriety information in a grid format. By looking at the ideas as a group, OSLI companies can discuss the merits of each idea with their peers to see who may want to work together on a potential idea.

While the portal will provide a service to OSLI companies, del Valle points out that it will also provide a “listening and mentoring” role to inventors who have ideas.

“A lot of people have ideas but need direction on next steps and what the industry requires in terms of evaluations and credible laboratories to run tests. Still others, need to be told to stop their work because it’s not something of interest to the industry,” says del Valle, Director of Technology Development, ConocoPhillips.

At the portal office, to be set up in early 2012, inventors/third-party vendors can speak to staff although a web-based portal will also be established down the road.

In the future, del Valle hopes that the portal organization will be able to look beyond the oil sands industry to other industries throughout the world, for solutions to technological challenges.

While there is much support for the portal concept, it has had some difficulty taking flight due to the complex legal framework required around confidential proprietary information to protect the rights of all parties. OSLI companies must be protected from potential conflicts regarding proprietary information and vendors must be assured that details key to their invention remain confidential.

“Right now, we understand how we want the portal organization to work in principle but we have to set up the right legal framework. We don’t want to contaminate the OSLI companies with confidential proprietary information so the portal has to be set up as a stand-alone company that provides technology screening and evaluation as a service to OSLI companies,” says del Valle.

Doug James, a partner in Energy Futures Network who has been working with OSLI to set up the portal organization, says it will “create a single window for good ideas to reach the oil sands industry.”

He explains a “stage gate evaluation” process will be used to separate out stronger from weaker ideas. In the first stage, ideas will be evaluated to determine which ones are valid.

“We have to find out which ones are real and those that aren’t. We’re looking at whether or not the inventor has the right to offer up the idea. Is it just a cool idea or is it ready for the market place? Is it something we’re interested in or one of 30 ideas that we’ve seen before?”

After the high-level review, the portal organization will then move to the second stage, looking at the scientific details of the idea and whether it’s something OSLI companies could use.

In the third stage, the portal organization will enter into a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement since the vendor will have to share proprietary information. At this point, the portal will determine whether or not it’s necessary to carry out engineering and other types of studies.

Staff at the portal organization will then prepare a non-confidential report that analyses and describes what the invention might be able to do for the oil sands industry. Once the report is prepared and presented to OSLI companies, then it’s up to the companies to determine what ideas to pursue.

James says the time is right in the oil sands industry for a collaborative effort like the portal because of its potential to accelerate technology innovation.

“In spite of the hassles we’ve had to birth it, the portal organization could double or triple the rate at which innovation occurs, which will help the industry improve its environmental, social and economic performance.”

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