NRMCA honors recipients of inaugural Concrete Innovations Awards

Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria, Va.; CP staff

Build With Strength, an initiative of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, named individuals or companies earning 2023 Concrete Innovation Awards at a ceremony dovetailing the ConExpo-Con/Agg show in Las Vegas. A panel of five judges selected winners, recognizing their commitment to improving the resilience, performance and sustainability of concrete. Premier Concrete Innovation Awards recipients, by category, are:  

Concrete mix designed with Nanogence binder technology.

Innovative Person or Team. Abhishek Kumar, founder and CEO of Nanogence Inc., developer of a catalyst that reduces cementitious demand in concrete over 20 percent. Kumar has worked with NRMCA member Ernst Concrete to bring Nanogence to the U.S. market.

Innovative Product or Service. Concrete.ai, artificial intelligence-powered mix optimization software programmer; Giatec Scientific Inc., AI-powered SmartMix platform developer; and, Urban Mining Industries, Pozzotive ground glass pozzolan proprietor.

Innovative Project Award. Boston University’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences, housed in a campus facility built with Holcim ECOPact low-carbon concrete; Casa Adelante by Mar Structural Design, a nine-story senior housing development in which Central Concrete Supply participated; Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection western headquarters, with concrete supplied by O&G Industries; Remy Wines Williamette Valley facility, built with carbon negative mixes delivered by Wilsonville Concrete Products; and, Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion, built with Stoneway Concrete self-consolidating mixes.  

Innovative Company. Carbon Upcycling, developer of industrial byproduct and carbon utilization processes netting supplementary cementitious materials; and, Cemstone Products Co., which logged 6 million gallons of recycled water and recycled 1,400 tons of concrete aggregates in 2022 production.

“The industry is making great strides to improve the way it makes concrete so that it can provide strong, resilient structures at lower carbon footprint,” affirms NRMCA Executive Vice President, Structures and Sustainability Lionel Lemay. 

Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion