Lights, Camera, Innovation: What Industry Conversations Are Teaching Us About The Future Of Concrete

Originally published in Concrete in Australia (52.1 March 2026)

Our work at SmartCrete CRC grants us a rare privilege. As a co-operative research centre investing matched government and industry funding into concrete research and development, we get a front-row seat to innovations that will soon transform construction as we know it.

To give you a sneak peek of these breakthroughs, our video series, Clinker Chat, draws back the curtain on innovations in progress … and teaches us a few lessons along the way.

Lessons from behind the camera

Clinker Chats are conversations with concrete innovators— the people working in laboratories, warehouses, or out on site to solve problems in sustainability, durability, and more.

Your host is SmartCrete CEO Clare Tubolets, and previous episodes have explored such next-gen solutions as manufactured sand and geopolymer concrete that could help us reach net zero. 

The chats so far have revealed clear themes. While industry heavy hitters and bold small businesses alike are innovating, real-world applications stall because of fragmentation in the supply chain and the absence of performance-based specifications.

But as the two latest Clinker Chats confirm—government backing and standardisation are what move innovations from trials to market.

FULL ARTICLE – CONCRETE IN AUSTRALIA