Concrete technology to encourage marine biodiversity: Ido Sella and Shimrit Perkol-Finkel named European Inventor Award 2022 finalists
- Israeli scientists Ido Sella and the late Shimrit Perkol-Finkel are nominated for the European Patent Office (EPO) prize in the "Non-EPO countries" category for inventing ECOncrete ®
- The innovative concrete assists local marine life to flourish while also strengthening infrastructure
- The product, already used in 10 countries worldwide, can help the concrete industry lower its emissions and improve marine ecosystems around ports, sea walls and marinas
Munich, 17 May 2022 - The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced that Israeli scientists Ido Sella and the late Shimrit Perkol-Finkel have been nominated for the European Inventor Award 2022 for inventing a new type of marine concrete that encourages local sea life to thrive and, in turn, strengthen the concrete's structure. Their invention, ECOncrete®, helps reduce the ecological footprint of infrastructure such as sea walls, ports and marinas.
The two marine biologists are well-known in the environmental field for creating marine building materials that enable more eco-friendly coastal infrastructure. Their product is already in use in 10 countries around the world.
"Through research and innovation, Sella and Perkol-Finkel have transformed a standard construction material into a shelter for marine life," says EPO President António Campinos, announcing the European Inventor Award 2022 finalists. "As marine construction is a growing sector, this invention has the potential to make a wide impact and improve the industry's environmental footprint on a global scale."
Sella and Perkol-Finkel, who passed away in 2021, are jointly named one of the three finalists for the European Inventor Award in the "Non-EPO countries" category which recognises inventions developed outside EPO member states. The winners of the 2022 edition of the EPO's annual innovation prize will be announced at the virtual European Inventor Award ceremony on 21 June.
Giving a concrete answer
Concrete, which is traditionally used in marine infrastructure, can disrupt the chemical balance in marine environments and create flat terrains, producing an unfavourable environment for shellfish and corals which grow and make their home in the little crevices of the sea floor. In sharp contrast, invasive marine species that threaten local ecosystems tend to flourish around concrete.
In response to these challenges, Sella and Perkol Finkel's solution contains concrete additives which prevent harmful chemicals from leaching into the seawater while also increasing the material's compression force by up to 10%. The moulds in which the concrete blocks are formed contain ridges and pores that create the necessary complexity for marine life to use for shelter. These ridges and pores attract shellfish larvae, which prefer small openings to grow and survive in an ecosystem. The product's liners, coatings and mould-modifying agents also recreate the micro-level surfaces required for marine larvae to settle. These organisms can then further strengthen the concrete because their skeletons encapsulate the surface and act as a biological glue.
"Think about barnacles and oysters and corals that create their skeleton from taking calcium ions from the water and using dissolved CO2 to create calcium carbonate [for their shells],'' said Sella. "When these sessile organisms settle on the concrete and encapsulate it with calcium carbonate, they actually make it stronger. It was found that concrete covered by oysters can be 10 times stronger in terms of tensile strength than bare concrete."
From students to CEOs
Sella and Perkol-Finkel first met at Tel Aviv University where they were both studying the ecological impact of large marine construction projects. They wanted to find out if they could reformulate concrete and in 2011 began small-scale experiments to see how the substance reacted in the different temperate and tropical waters around Israel. In 2012, they co-founded an environmental infrastructure start-up, also called ECOncrete, with Sella as CTO and Perkol-Finkel as CEO and chief scientist. They began speaking about their experiments at conferences, with one talk attracting the attention of various US federal agencies, who invited them to conduct further research along the Pacific and Atlantic coast.
Between 2012 to 2014, they ran tests in multiple marine sites and labs in the Mediterranean and Red seas, as well as along the American Atlantic coast from Florida to the north-east. Sella says that he and Perkol-Finkel travelled between marine and freshwater testing sites every three months, with little more than a backpack, and slept in student dormitories as they ran experiments. This generated the data they needed to submit their patent application in 2014.
"It was really important for us that everything [around the intellectual property] would be protected before we applied the technology in a large scale for the first time," says Sella.
ECOncrete has so far been installed in more than 40 locations in over 10 countries, including shorelines and waterfronts in Spain, Monaco, the Netherlands, Italy, San Diego and New York. The company is now in discussions to use it to protect wind farms and underwater pipelines in the North Sea. Perkol-Finkel and Sella are widely recognised in both the construction and research communities for their work in applying ecological engineering to marine and coastal infrastructure. The invention has received the Biomimicry Institute's Ray of Hope prize in 2020 and was named one of the most 100 valuable inventions of 2019 by TIME magazine.
In 2021, ECOncrete tripled its income for the third year in a row, raised a Series A venture funding and received a generous grants form EU Horizon 2020, the BIRD foundation, and US Department of Energy. The company has 35 employees, a mix of engineers, biologists and concrete technology specialists. Its growth comes at a time when the worlds waterfronts are extensively modified due to prediction of sea level rise and increased storminess, and the marine construction industry facing remarkable opportunities and challenges. The global underwater concrete market has been valued at about EUR 320 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow more than 10.8% annually till 2030.
The current success of ECOncrete was marked by tragedy last year when Perkol-Finkel was killed in a traffic accident. "It's like losing your sister, there's no way around it,'' says Sella. "We'd been studying together since we were students sitting at the same table in the lab in the university, until the last day when she left the office.''
He says that her passing came just as the company went through what they expected to be a breakthrough year: "We more than doubled our [company's] size since she passed away on 7 March last year," says Sella. "It's a jump that we were planning and preparing towards. Shimrit tragically left us just before seeing this going into motion. She's greatly missed."
Notes to the editor
About the inventors
Ido Sella received a PhD in marine science from Tel Aviv University in 2012, which focused on the biological, and biomechanical properties of corals. He was particularly interested in how sessile organisms can help reef restoration. In 2010, he and Perkol-Finkel co-founded an ecological marine consulting company to increase the ecological value of coastal infrastructure, which drew their attention to the problems caused by the chemistry and poor design of marine concrete infrastructure. They co-founded ECOncrete in 2012, where Sella is currently CEO and Chief Scientist. With over 20 publications and patents under his name ranging from aquafarming and biological materials, to construction technology applications, Sella is considered a forerunner in the field of ecological enhancement of coastal and marine infrastructure.
Sella is named inventor in European patent EP2956001B1 (granted 2016).
About the European Inventor Award
The European Inventor Award is one of Europe's most prestigious innovation prizes. Launched by the EPO in 2006, the award honours individuals and teams' solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our times. The finalists and winners are selected by an independent jury comprising former Award finalists. Together, they examine the proposals for their contribution towards technical progress, social and sustainable development and economic prosperity. The EPO will confer the Award in four categories (Industry, Research, SMEs and Non-EPO countries), as well as announcing a Lifetime achievement award at a virtual ceremony on 21 June. In addition, the public selects the Popular Prize winner from the 13 finalists by voting on the EPO website in the run-up to the ceremony. Voting is open until 21 June 2022. Read more on the European Inventor Award eligibility and selection criteria.
This year, for the first time, the EPO will also award bright young minds with the Young Inventors prize. The new prize offers a monetary reward to the three finalists to further encourage them to find creative solutions to pressing sustainable development challenges.
About the EPO
With 6 400 staff, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Headquartered in Munich with offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna, the EPO was founded with the aim of strengthening co-operation on patents in Europe. Through the EPO's centralised patent granting procedure, inventors are able to obtain high-quality patent protection in up to 44 countries, covering a market of some 700 million people. The EPO is also the world's leading authority in patent information and patent searching.
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