The jury of the Förderpreis Beton Central Europe 2022 competition held recently in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, during which Cemex announced the winner of the competition for scientific and technical achievements. The goal of the competition, which took place in Germany, is to encourage young scientists to develop in the industry while supporting the development of the production, processing and application of concrete and concrete structures.
The competition task was to find ways to improve the material properties, quality and cost-effectiveness of concrete and concrete structures, as well as environmental and technological aspects. Specialists and scientists from construction companies involved in the production of building materials, research institutes, universities and material research institutes from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany were invited to participate in the competition.
The winner was announced at the Cemex Concrete Forum in Regensburg, Germany, an event hosted by Ruediger Kuhn, Cemex vice president of materials for Central Europe. The winner of the 20th Förderpreis Beton was Dr. Ing. Tobias Schack of the University of Hanover in Germany with his paper "Monitoring fresh concrete in a computer vision system for digital quality control."
"It is a great honor and pleasure for me to receive this year's Förderpreis Beton Central Europe 2022 Award, sponsored by Cemex. I think this award is very special because it recognizes achievements in both science and industry. Looking at the list of winners itself, I think it is of great importance that this award has already been given in recent years and even decades. It is very important to show that scientific achievements in concrete technology must be supported in the future. I hope this will encourage young scientists to deal with concrete as a building material in practice and from a scientific angle, in order to acquire new knowledge and develop new methods so that concrete technology and production can be further developed in the future," said Tobias Schack, Ph.D., winner of the competition.
Ruediger Kuhn, Cemex's Vice President of Materials for Central Europe, commented: "This award deservedly enjoys a high level of prestige in Central Europe, and we are continually impressed by the high level of pioneering submissions we receive. It is with great satisfaction that we see the next generation of scientists and technologists pushing the boundaries to accelerate the transformation of our industry and foster better collaboration between scientists and experts in the building materials industry."
"The works judged consistently show that concrete is still a material with a very high potential for innovation. This year's edition confirmed that 3D printing is making its way permanently into the technologies of building more and more structures, the digitalization of concrete mix production and quality control is becoming more and more evident. There were also interesting works on modern solutions in tunnel construction," said Prof. Jan Deja of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, a member of the competition jury. "The two editions of the competition so far, carried out at a difficult pandemic time, have shown that the extension of cooperation to the three countries in which Cemex operates creates good conditions for strengthening cooperation between the centers represented on the jury," he added.
Introducing the winner at the Cemex Concrete Forum, Prof. Dr. Ing. Rolf Breitenbücher of Ruhr University in Bochum, chairman of the Foerderpreis jury, said: "The quality of the submissions was exceptionally high, so Tobias can be very proud of his achievement. His work on concrete monitoring was not only innovative and clearly indicated the development of technology in this area, but also successfully overcame the challenges posed by the pandemic."
Dr. Ing. Tobias Schack was selected by an international jury together with leading researchers in the field of building materials from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
The award and a financial prize of 10,000 euros were handed over to him at an official ceremony held on June 23 this year in Gdansk, Poland. Other finalists included Iveta Nováková from the Czech Republic and Dr. Katarzyna Kalinowska-Wichrowska from Poland.
"The use of recycled concrete materials - in my case it was recycled aggregates - instead of natural raw materials for concrete production, could be an interesting solution for Cemex. It would also be interesting to market an offering of concrete made without cement and with 100% waste aggregates." - says Katarzyna Kalinowska-Wichrowska, a finalist in the competition and author of the paper entitled Geopolymer concrete with treated recycled aggregates: Macro and microstructural behavior. "Cemex has made great strides in the direction of sustainable production, this approach prompts us to look for more solutions," she adds.
In Germany, the Förderpreis Beton enjoys prestige among concrete technologists - a leading award in building materials research. Cemex has awarded the prize every two years since 1984. In 2020, the competition was expanded to include Poland and the Czech Republic.
Additional information
In February 2020, Cemex announced a climate strategy called "Future in Action - Committed to Net Zero CO2," and in November 2022, an update of its targets. By 2030, the company plans to:
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ReduceCO2emissions toless than430 kg per ton of cement product, equivalent to a 47% reduction*
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Reduce its carbon footprint per cubic meter of concrete to 150 kg, corresponding to a 41% reduction
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Achieve a 65% share of renewable energy by 2030.
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Reduce Scope 3 transportation emissions by 30% by 2030.
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Vertua's low-emission products to account for the majority (50%+) of cement and concrete sales by 2025.
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Development of up to 40 million tons of waste per year
* Compared to 1990 baseline.
