The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has today revealed the first six start-ups that will be backed by its member companies through the first round of its ‘Innovandi Open Challenge’ competition, which aims to accelerate the development of technologies that can deliver net zero emissions across the carbon intensive industry by 2050.
The six start-ups were chosen from more than 100 entrants to the Open Challenge. They will now team up with some of the world’s largest cement companies to further test, develop, and deploy their ground-breaking technologies.
The winners include start-ups developing carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), such as CarbonOrO, MOF Technologies, and Saipem, as well as firms working on developing low carbon cement that makes use of captured CO2, such as Carbon Upcycling Technologies and Fortera. The other confirmed winner is Coomtech, a British business that has developed a low-cost drying technology using kinetic energy created by managed, turbulent air.
Six newly established consortia will now help to accelerate the development of the start-up’s technologies, the GCCA said. Each consortium is made up of a start-up company, with their respective pioneering technology, and includes between three and eight cement companies, with 16 GCCA member companies involved across the six innovation consortia.
“It’s a proud moment to see the industry coming together to support such innovative start-ups on their journey,” said Thomas Guillot, GCCA chief executive. “Our member companies were greatly impressed by their ambition to be a key part of the climate solution. The programme is another big step forward towards unlocking innovation to help us achieve our net zero goal.
“As the need for resilient and sustainable communities to support a growing global population becomes more pressing, cement and concrete will be essential to providing the infrastructure and buildings that society needs. Achieving net zero concrete relies on a number of different groups playing their part, and as an industry we’re looking outwards as well as inwards, to see how start-ups like these can support our goals.”
