Fifteen start-ups have been shortlisted by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), from a global list of applications, for its pioneering Innovandi Open Challenge scheme, to work on developing low-carbon concrete for the world.
The GCCA and its member companies are on a mission to fully decarbonise concrete – the most used material on earth after water. Developing low carbon concrete is a key part of making the world’s essential cement and concrete industry net zero by 2050, in line with the GCCA’s Roadmap.
The GCCA’s challenge brings together start-ups and the industry’s leading manufacturers to work together on innovative ways to cut emissions and accelerate progress.
Between March to May, applications were invited from start-ups interested in working on developing new materials and ingredients to make low carbon concrete, which saw 70 applications received from every region of the world.
A shortlist of 15 of the most promising and deployable technologies has now been drawn up by the GCCA and its member companies. These start-ups will present their ideas at a pitch day later this week.
Those ultimately accepted for this year’s Innovandi Open Challenge will gain unique access to industry plants, labs, key networks and the expertise and infrastructure of the leading manufacturers.
Claude Loréa, GCCA Cement Director and Innovation Lead said the GCCA and its member companies have been very impressed by the applications.
“We received more than 70 quality applications, so drawing up a shortlist was challenging. Developing low carbon concrete will require innovation and expertise to succeed, as our essential industry needs something easily scalable and affordable.”
“Those start-ups on the list demonstrated the most potential, and we look forward to hearing more about their ideas during this week’s pitch day. But we’ll also be keeping in touch with other start-ups who didn’t make this year’s shortlist, with future projects in mind.”
It is the second year the Innovandi Open Challenge has been running. The first programme, which launched in 2021 and which primarily focused on carbon capture and utilisation, has already seen two projects go to pilot stage.
| Shortlisted company and location | About the innovation |
| NeoCrete, Auckland, New Zealand | Neocrete has developed a nano-activator that activates natural pozzolans to behave like cement, creating high-performance, durable, and low-carbon concrete – called Neocrete. |
| EnviCore Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada | EnviCore’s innovative technology enables the conversion of a wide range of mineral feedstocks into SCMs at low temperatures |
| Arrakis Materials, Woburn, Massachusetts, USA | Arrakis Materials is developing technology for the production of carbon-negative materials for use in concrete manufacturing. |
| ecoLocked, Berlin, Germany | ecoLocked creates biocarbon-based concrete admix materials that are designed to reduce embodied CO2 and turn the built environment into a carbon sink. |
| Nanospan India Pvt Ltd, Telangana, India | Our product Spanocrete is a graphene-based nano-engineered admixture. It extends concrete’s durability, reduces C02 emissions and costs. |
| Ultra High Materials, Inc., USA | We have designed, developed, patented, extensively tested, and manufactured at scale in commercial batch plants novel ultra-low carbon cementitious materials that use non Portland cement. |
| Enzymatic, Inc., USA | An Enzymatic Corrosion Inhibitor (ECI) that increases the lifespan of concrete, an Enzymatic Concrete Recycling (ECR) and an Enzymatic Construction Material (ECM) which is a carbon negative. |
| EcoAdmix Global Limited, UK | HDT uses nanotechnology to significantly lower energy costs, lower CO2 emissions, and produce concrete that is superior to anything else in the market. |
| MEP – SeaMix, Miami, USA | We have developed a patented basalt fibre and graphene admix for concrete that nearly doubles the strength, reduces need for Portland cement, increases R-Value and dramatically reduces the carbon footprint of concrete. |
| Chement, Chicago, USA | Chement’s technology is room temperature, electrochemical route to the production of cement that also enables a more feasible method of carbon capture. |
| The Cool Corporation, London, UK | Cool is a manufacturer of carbon-negative carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which have applications as a concrete additive. Benefits of CNTs as an admixture for concrete including increased strength, conductivity, resistance to cracking, longevity and strength. |
| Versarien Graphene Limited, Gloucestershire, UK | We have developed CementeneTM, a graphene-based aqueous admixture that promises to significantly enhance the properties of concrete and reduce its carbon cost. |
| Nano Crete, Colorado, USA | Permanently sequestering carbon into a stronger and more durable concrete using graphene as a supplementary cementitious material, while reducing Portland cement usage up to 33% per mix. |
| Louis Structures LLC, Sheboygan, USA | Louis Structures owns a patented, zero-waste recycling process that takes household trash (MSW) and manufactures aggregate called MSWagg™ which has exceptional potential for use as light weight concrete |
| Queens Carbon, Inc., Pine Brook, USA | Developing a breakthrough ultralow-CO2 manufacturing technology to produce cementitious materials from industry-standard raw materials. The patented technology enables temperatures 1000C lower than those found in a traditional kiln, paving the way for substantial energy reductions. |
