The Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center (SGICC)

In 2011 the Ben Franklin Technology Partners CNP launched the Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC). SGICC’s mission is “to establish a collaborative that will engage a wide range of partners with the intent to accelerate technology breakthroughs related to the shale energy resource.” Since its inception the center has become a nexus between shale energy innovators in the state of Pennsylvania and leading industry players who are active in the shale energy revolution. 

The cornerstone of SGICC’s efforts has been coordinating an annual Shale Gas Innovation Contest. The contest has grown substantially every year since its inception, and it functions as the primary opportunity for small companies, entrepreneurs, and university researchers to gain visibility for their new technology concepts geared towards advancing the shale energy play.   

As part of the statewide Ben Franklin Technology Partners network, SGICC is designed to vet new technology concepts, business strategies, or products/services directed towards the shale energy play, and when appropriate to provide access to seed capital that will help move promising concepts and early stage small companies forward. This is accomplished either through support from the BFTP network, utilization of other state or federal funds when available, or through facilitating third party interest via our network of large shale energy partners or investors active in the sector. SGICC functions as a conduit linking small companies, entrepreneurs, and researchers with industry partners, investors, end-users, and government agencies to address real market issues and solve problems. 

The SGICC strives to stay abreast of the day-to-day technology advancements taking place in the industry. The shale energy revolution is advancing technologically at an incredibly rapid pace, and keeping the pulse of the industry advancements in all areas is important to SGICC. We rely on a team of BFTP market researchers and a deep bench of industry experts to assist us with advising the entrepreneurs bringing concepts forward to the center for evaluation. We also produce a newsletter roughly every three weeks that captures the latest significant news in the shale energy industry.