Tracking the Diffusion of Plurigaussian Simulations within Academia and into Industry: Retrospective Case-Study on a Discovery in the Earth Sciences

23 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2016

See all articles by Margaret Armstrong

Margaret Armstrong

FGV EMAp; Cerna Mines-Paristech

Angelo Mondaini

Rio de Janeiro State University

Sabrina Camargo

Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) - EMAp - School of Applied Mathematics

Date Written: June 15, 2016

Abstract

The mathematical method called Plurigaussian Simulations was invented in France in the 1990s for simulating the internal architecture of oil reservoirs. It rapidly proved useful in other domains in the earth sciences: mining, hydrology and history matching. This paper tracks its diffusion firstly within academia using citation data from Google Scholar, and then investigates whether it was really adopted by industry. As expected many published papers were co-authored by mining or oil companies, or by consulting firms. While this demonstrates a certain level of interest from industry we postulate that in some cases companies were merely “window-shopping”. Companies that continued to publish on this topic (i.e. “repeat co-authors”) had clearly adopted the method. But what about the others? Our survey shows that some sent their personnel for postgraduate training or to attend specialized short courses; others decided to get studies carried out by consulting firms rather than investing the time and effort in building up competency in-house.

Keywords: University-Industry Interaction, Technology Diffusion, Google Scholar Citations, Earth Sciences

JEL Classification: O32,O38

Suggested Citation

Armstrong, Margaret and Armstrong, Margaret and Mondaini, Angelo and Camargo, Sabrina, Tracking the Diffusion of Plurigaussian Simulations within Academia and into Industry: Retrospective Case-Study on a Discovery in the Earth Sciences (June 15, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2796349 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2796349

Margaret Armstrong (Contact Author)

FGV EMAp ( email )

190 Praia de Botafogo
Rio de Janeiro, 22250-900
Brazil

Cerna Mines-Paristech ( email )

60 bd St Michel
Paris, 75006
France
33140519313 (Phone)
33140519145 (Fax)

Angelo Mondaini

Rio de Janeiro State University ( email )

Rua Sao Franciso Xavier
524, 7 andar
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20550900
Brazil

Sabrina Camargo

Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) - EMAp - School of Applied Mathematics ( email )

Praia de Botafogo
Rio de Janeiro, 22250-900
Brazil

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
95
Abstract Views
584
Rank
495,965
PlumX Metrics