challenges

Meet Colin Furze. Our host of Pitch the Future who has a passion for inventing things, especially in the STEM field. See how he takes on one of the challenges himself and builds a wind and solar-powered tumble dryer.

Watch Colin take on a challenge

Pitch the Future is an all-new competition that challenges Shell Eco-marathon student teams from around the world to use their STEM skills to tackle four real-world energy challenges.

Scroll down to find out more about each of the challenges, read about the teams, explore their incredible ideas in response to these real world challenges, and click through to vote for your favourite winning idea.

Intro to Challenges: Pitch the Future

Title: Intro to Challenges: Pitch the Future

Duration: 0:59 minutes

Description:

YouTuber and inventor Colin Furze introduces the three Shell Pitch the Future challenges.

[Video footage]

Interview footage of Colin Furze standing with outstretched arms speaking into the camera.

Colin Furze

Let’s get this show on the road!

[Video footage]

Colourful confetti flies around Colin. A series of blue and yellow animated lines appear behind him.

Colin Furze

I’m Colin Furze, YouTuber and inventor.

[Text displays]

COLIN FURZE

YOUTUBER & INVENTOR

[Animated sequence]

Colourful Pitch the Future title card with Shell pecten logo at the top and race car on the left.

[Text displays]

PITCH THE FUTURE

#MakeTheFuture

Colin Furze

And welcome to Pitch the Future where we get some of the brightest minds, our Shell Eco Marathon students, to help out in solving real world challenges.

[Video footage]

Colin speaks into the camera. Animations pop up on-screen around Colin of a pencil, atom, lightbulb, brain, graduate cap and gears. Then a series of coloured animated circular and dotted lines appear behind him.

[Animated sequence]

Animation of yellow and blue turning gears with on-screen text and Shell pecten logo.

[Text displays]

DECARBONIZING THE HOME

Shell ENERGY

[Video footage]

Colin speaks into the camera. Top right an embedded animation of homes and a finger flicking a light switch and a clock.

Colin Furze

The first challenge is to reduce CO2 emissions in the home, but without disrupting customers’ everyday comforts.

[Video footage]

Colin drinks from a white mug with Furze logo on it.

[Animated sequence]

Colourful animation of moving objects with text centre-screen and a white arrow at the bottom followed by the Microsoft logo.

[Text displays]

TRACKING AND REDUCING VEHICLE CO2 EMISSIONS

Microsoft

Colin Furze

The next task is to design a system which can be fitted into a car that tracks and shares CO2 emissions.

[Video footage]

Colin speaks into the camera. Top right an embedded animation of a car and a tracking device.

[Animated sequence]

Colourful animation with Shell pecten logo and on-screen text.

[Text displays]

DECARBONIZING ROAD FREIGHT TRANSPORT

Shell Lubricants

[Video footage]

Colin speaks into the camera. Top right an embedded animation of a home and approaching freight vehicle. A parcel is placed on the doorstep after which the vehicle drives off.

Colin Furze

The third task is to create a concept which helps decarbonise road freight transport, but without compromising customer expectations, because we still want our packages on time.

[Animated sequence]

Colourful animation with Shell pecten logo and charge icon and on-screen text.

[Text displays]

ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY CHARGING

Shell Recharge

[Video footage]

Colin speaks into the camera. Top right an embedded animation of a compass, inside it a car driving on a road. The word STOPS next to the car.

Colin Furze

And the final task is to plan an all-electric drive with the fewest amount of stops, the best optimised battery, and in the fastest possible time.

[Video footage]

Colin speaks into the camera. A series of white and yellow animated circular lines appear behind him.

Colin Furze

For full details on all things Pitch the Future, visit MakeTheFuture.Shell/Pitch.

[Animated sequence]

Colourful animation of a series of race cars on a circuit. Text centre-screen as displayed below.

[Text displays]

MakeTheFuture.Shell/Pitch

#ShellEcoMarathon

[Audio]

Shell jingle

[Graphic]

Shell Pecten centred on a white background with text at the bottom as displayed below.

[Text displays]

Decarbonising the Home with Shell Energy

In this challenge students will develop an innovative concept to help lower energy use in the home, without compromising people’s comfort or convenience.

Find Out More

Tracking and Reducing CO2 Emissions from Vehicles with Microsoft

In line with Microsoft’s 2030 carbon negative ambition, the challenge is to design a prototype for tracking passenger vehicle CO2 emissions to help reduce driving emissions.

Find Out More

Decarbonising Road Freight Transport with Shell Lubricants

Participating teams will develop an innovative concept that helps decarbonise road freight transport without compromising customer expectations of distribution and delivery.

Find Out More

Electric Vehicles and Long-Distance Travels with Shell Recharge

With electric vehicles usage growing, students will plan an all-electric drive relevant to their region, showing how current battery technology can be optimised.

Find Out More

Digital Literacy Award with Adobe

A special prize which all teams using Adobe Creative Cloud are entered into, recognising creative submissions that exemplify digital literacy skills.

Find Out More

Pitch the Future Homepage

Learn all about this virtual competition, where student teams help tackle society’s most pressing energy challenges.

Pitch the Future Home Page

Find out which Shell Eco-marathon teams won the Pitch the Future challenges with their innovative ideas and watch the virtual awards ceremony.

Meet the winners and watch the awards

Title: Intro to Challenges: Pitch the Future