Concrete Innovations Awards 1.0

Remy Wines slab with 100 lbs./yd. of Solid Carbon admixture

Build With Strength, a National Ready Mixed Concrete Association initiative, 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: 

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

Innovative Product or Service. Concrete.ai, Los Angeles artificial intelligence-powered mix optimization software programmer; Giatec Scientific, Toronto, developer of SmartMix concrete mix management, analysis and reporting software; and, Urban Mining Industries, developer of Pozzotive ground glass pozzolan and collaborator with NRMCA producer member O&G Industries on a Connecticut production line for the material. 

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 San Jose, Calif. for which Central Concrete Supply served as principal ready mixed source; Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection western headquarters, with concrete supplied by O&G Industries; Remy Wines Willamette Valley facility in Oregon, built with carbon negative mixes delivered by Wilsonville Concrete Products; and, Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion, built with Stoneway Concrete self-consolidating mixes. 

Concrete mix designed with Nanogence binder technology

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