Danish Technical University spin-out Abeo is cleantech world champion

Abeo A/S, a spin-out of the Danish Technical University (DTU), has been named winner at the Cleantech World Championship, held in San Francisco last week. More than 1,200 international investors attended the event in Silicon Valley.

The company, founded by Kristian Hertz, of DTU’s Civil Engineering Department, has developed a new construction technology that is both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Abeo, formed in June this year, was previously named as the Danish Cleantech champion.

“It is fantastic news that we won the world championship in Cleantech with our new technology [...] We can use the occasion to bring more attention to the possibilities that lie in clean technology for construction. After many years of research we have reached a point where we now have solutions that can greatly reduce the negative environmental impact from building construction and maintenance,” Hertz said.

Building construction is responsible for 10-20 per cent of the world’s CO2 production. Abeo says its Superlight Construction technology will halve the amount of CO2 produced in comparison to normal concrete construction, and reduce CO2 output to a tenth of what it is with traditional steel construction.

“The technology that Abeo presented is exactly what we are looking for globally, in these times,” said Lesa Mitchell, VP of Innovation at the Kauffman Foundation, the lead sponsor of the Cleantech world championship, adding, “Ideas and know-how at this level that can change heavy industries’ negative environmental impact are very interesting.”

Abeo is partly owned by DTU, and the company aims to commercialise its newly patented technology both within Denmark and internationally.