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Innovation: Always Advancing

7/1/2024

I want to thank President Michael Paul for this opportunity to write one of the President’s Memos.

Now, take a moment to close your eyes and keep them closed for 15 seconds. When you open them, what did you see? Try it again and close them for 15 seconds. Surely you saw it that time. No? Okay—one more time—15 seconds. What you just experienced was time…timepassingquickly. Or to quote the 1976 Steve Miller Band hit “Fly Like an Eagle”:

“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’

Into the future …♫”¹

Time and ideas are at the heart of innovation, and they move fast. Former Federal Reserve Bank Chair Alan Greenspan said, “The process of innovation is, of course, never-ending.”

During the Institute’s formative years and beyond, members witnessed not only the passage of time but also a stunning history of innovation. Think of it:

• 1903, mere months before the founding of the National Association of Cement Users, saw the first sustained and controlled flight. Today, rocket flights into space are almost commonplace;
• 1913 saw the invention of electric refrigeration. Today, where would we be without keeping perishable foods cold or frozen?;
• 1927 unveiled the first fully electronic television system. Today, almost 100% of all homes in the United States have at least one television, providing instant access to news, weather, and entertainment;
• 1971 saw the introduction of the world’s first personal computer, the Kenbak-1; and
• In 1977, Apple went mainstream, releasing the Apple II. Today, we have more computing power at our fingertips than was available to land a man on the moon.

And on and on we go: the invention of penicillin; the discovery of the DNA double helix structure; the moon landing by Apollo 11; the invention of the Internet; harnessing nuclear energy; antibiotics and vaccines; cellular phones; the automobile; renewable energy; quantum mechanics; and, finally, artificial intelligence (AI).

All of this seemed to happen at “blinding speed.” And we witnessed much of it in our lifetimes.

The ACI Foundation Technology Forum, which occurred May 14-15, 2024, in Santa Fe, NM, USA, is essential for our industry to witness and learn what innovations exist, how they are being applied in what we do, and how we can use them to do what we do better.

Innovation is crucial for success as it drives growth, increases profitability, and helps us stay relevant in a rapidly changing market. But getting it right is challenging.

An innovation is a new match between a need and a solution. The novelty of the innovation may be in the need, in the solution, or a new connection between an existing need and an existing solution.²

Successful innovation has historically occurred at the intersection of several elements, which can guide prioritization efforts. The three most important elements are the who, the what, and the how:

1. An unmet customer need (the “who”): Who is the customer, and what problem do they need to solve? Are macro trends such as automation driving changes in customer needs?
2. A solution (the “what”): Is the solution compelling, and can it be executed?
3. A business model that allows for the solution to be monetized (the “how”): How will the solution create value? What is the business model?³

The late Apple Corporation Founder, Steve Jobs, said it best: “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat.”

We are fortunate to live in an era with innovations occurring every day. We are surrounded by opportunities in product design and improvements…and, yes, innovation in all things concrete.

Ideas are formulated and put into motion rapidly. And technology serves to accelerate that pace, as evidenced in the excellent Santa Fe Technology Forum presentations, including:

• Jed C. Wilbur, an engineer with Creare, LLC, who presented on a new air meter he and his colleagues have developed. It measures air content in fresh concrete by launching a shock wave into the concrete and evaluating compressibility and relaxation time parameters to determine the air content and air void spacing factor;
• Walter Eggers, Chief Bridge Engineer with Kiewit Engineering Group, Inc., who discussed the structural design innovations his team implemented to optimize the project cost and construction schedule for SoFi Stadium; and
• Ali Khaloo, Co-Founder of Aren, Inc., who presented an AI tool that can identify, quantify, and monitor cracks and other indications of deterioration on bridges, pavements, and other infrastructure. Inspections can be safely conducted in only hours, and the data are used to produce high-resolution three-dimensional digital twins of assets that can be accessed on-demand.

ACI and its members need to continue to innovate; “To have,” as Thomas Edison once noted, “great ideas, have a lot of them.”

With the rapid development and availability of AI, we need to conquer old obstacles that limit our opportunities or slow down our innovation.

With the passage of time, don’t blink. As you finish this column, take these questions with you:

What innovations will tomorrow bring? And…How can I use and maximize their benefit in what I do? The answers lie within you. Just close your eyes for 15 seconds and watch the time fly by.

FHG

References

1. Steve Miller Band, “Fly Like an Eagle,” released May 1976.

2. Concrete Innovation Council, “Guide for Innovators,” ACI Foundation, Farmington Hills, MI, 4 pp., https://www.acifoundation.org/Portals/12/Files/PDFs/Guide_for_Innovators.pdf, accessed May 23, 2024.

3. Furstenthal, L., and Roth, E., “Innovation—the Launchpad Out of the Crisis,” McKinsey & Company website, Sept. 15, 2021, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-the-launchpad-out-of-the-crisis.