Mike Ioannou, GM Global Digital & Technology Programs at Shell, opens Future Digital Twin & AI Amsterdam 2026 with a reflection on five years of digital twin deployment. Shell began by bringing asset information together in a spatial environment, helping engineers and frontline teams access the context they needed to work more effectively. Mike explains how that foundation is now creating opportunities to automate parts of operational work.
The keynote traces Shell’s changing approach to autonomy. After exploring fully autonomous assets, the company found that retrofitting existing facilities would be prohibitively expensive. It instead focused on improving human decision-making through connected information and simpler workflows. One example brings together static and dynamic risks across a plant, helping teams understand cumulative risk and assess nearby activities before issuing a permit.
Mike also discusses the challenge of adoption. Experienced staff may find it difficult to reconcile a new risk overview with years of operational knowledge, or may prefer a solution that follows familiar processes. Advances in large language models are opening another route: using integrated data to prepare diagnostics and recommendations that reduce the effort needed to interpret information. He describes proofs of concept involving diagnostic checks and root cause analysis reports, while highlighting the potential for earlier productivity gains.
These capabilities depend on organising data so AI can understand its meaning and relationships. Mike explains the importance of ontologies, semantic context and data quality, noting that AI can expose inconsistencies that previously remained hidden. He also considers how AI-assisted application development could reduce the repeated movement of information between separate systems.
The keynote closes with a leadership dilemma: how to support the thousands of people already using digital twins while investing limited resources in their next stage of development. Watch the full opening keynote to hear Mike’s perspective on Shell’s progress, the pace of AI change and the choices shaping the future of operational digital twins.
Speaker
- Mike Ioannou, GM Global Digital & Technology Programs, Shell
