Lafarge Africa, UK Partner To Drive Innovation In Construction Sector

Lafarge Africa Plc has announced a collaboration with Innovate UK to drive an Open Innovation challenge through the Global Alliance Africa project.

This partnership aims to assist Lafarge Africa in discovering creative circular economy initiatives for utilising Construction Demolition Materials (CDM) in addressing material waste and climate change challenges. In doing so, Lafarge Africa emphasises its dedication to making substantial contributions to the decarbonization of the construction industry.

The open innovation challenge targets three key objectives: creating digital tools to locate cementitious CDM sources, securing these sources in urban settings, and enhancing local technologies for processing and recycling these materials.

The pilot project will start in Lagos with the intention to scale to other states in the long term. Up to £25,000 seed funding is available for this challenge and innovative companies from various sectors including Construction, Recycling, Manufacturing, Materials, Chemistry, Energy, Data, Design, AI, Energy among others are to apply with application deadline on August 27, 2024.

The winner of the innovation challenge will pitch to Lafarge Africa and will be invited to collaborate with them on a trial project.

The GMD/CEO of Lafarge Africa, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi expressed, “we are a building solutions company committed to sustainability, innovation and operational excellence. As a member of the Holcim Group, we are reducing carbon emissions by fostering innovative ideas and technologies to facilitate sustainable transformation within the construction industry.

“To make a positive impact on the construction sector, we are seeking creative circular ideas for utilising Construction Demolition Materials (CDM) to address material waste and climate change challenges to contribute to decarbonization.”

The open innovation lead, Innovate UK, Babar Javed said, “the goal of Global Alliance Africa’s Open Innovation intervention is to help large companies find innovative solutions to technical problems that their traditional supply chains cannot solve.

“Using our bespoke platform, we match real industry problems with innovative companies or academic institutions who can provide novel, market ready solutions. We are delighted to be working with Lafarge Africa to find innovative solutions for the recycling of Construction Demolition Materials.”

Lafarge Africa and Global Alliance Africa are seeking sustainable, local solutions rather than importing raw materials, and are actively engaged in R&D to make recycled materials more reactive & valuable.