ExxonMobil challenges global innovators to find next-gen liquid cooling solutions for data centres

Wazoku’s Innocentive community to crowdsource solutions to address critical issue in data centre sustainability

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, November 7, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- ExxonMobil has launched a new open innovation challenge that aims to find novel liquid-cooling technologies that can help address the escalating demands of today’s high-density data centres.

The challenge - Innovative Liquid Cooling Solutions for Data Centres - is powered by Wazoku, the innovation scale-up, via its Innocentive open innovation community of more than 700,000 expert problem solvers including scientists, researchers, engineers, startups and academics.

As data centres power the digital economy – fuelled even more in recent years by increasing use of AI – their energy and cooling demands are becoming a key sustainability and cost challenge. Data centres already consume around 2% of global electricity, and that figure could double by 2026 as demand for AI and cloud computing grows. Managing the heat generated is now one of the principal industry issues and must be addressed to prevent hardware failures and ensure proper system performance.

Currently commercialising hydrocarbon-based immersion cooling fluids, ExxonMobil aims to identify new dielectric, non-conductive, low-viscosity, non-flammable fluids that outperform existing solutions in thermal management, pump power reduction and sustainability.

Continuous improvements in hardware performance are increasing heat generation, and advanced computing techniques, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, are driving higher computational workloads. In such a dynamic environment, “effective thermal management through immersion cooling solutions have never been so important,” according to ExxonMobil’s Chemicals & Specialties division.

The Innocentive solver community supporting the challenge brings deep expertise including engineering, climate tech, IT and sustainability. Innocentive has an 80%+ track record in solving challenges over the past 25 years.

“The pace at which data centres are scaling – particularly with AI, cloud services and edge computing – means traditional cooling methods are under escalating pressure,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku. “By collaborating with ExxonMobil and unlocking ideas globally via Innocentive, we believe we can help address one of the biggest issues the data centre industry is facing.”

Entries to the challenge close on 17 November 2025, and there is a total prize pool of US $100,000, with a minimum main prize of US $20,000. Submissions may include novel coolants, two-phase or immersion systems, hybrid approaches or other breakthroughs that improve efficiency, scalability and operational sustainability.

For full challenge details and submission guidelines, visit the Innocentive platform.

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