The program was launched in January and offers $150,000 in prizes. The “Dream Phase” ($45,000 awarded) is the second of three phases, preceded by the “Complain Phase” ($5,000 awarded) and will be followed by the “Build Phase” ($100,000 to be awarded).
AEM says it received 30 submissions for the “Dream Phase” coming from the U.S., Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines, Romania, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
“We are excited about the level of interest and diversity in submissions in the second phase of AEM’s Infrastructure Vision 2050 Challenge,” says AEM President Dennis Slater. “So far, in just six months alone, we have explored a number of ways to reinvent and prepare for the next generation of U.S. infrastructure. The winning innovators were those who dared to think big and generate ideas that move us away from the pothole discussion and towards bold and innovative solutions.”
The five winners include:
- Monorail 2050: Transit Oriented Development – a “hub and spoke” monorail design for a city in the year 2050. Submitted by: Jeremy Martinez, CEO/Executive Director of Matrix Institute on Addictions, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization (Los Angeles, CA)
- One Crack Away From a Disaster – a multi-component water infrastructure repair system that utilizes drones and virtual reality to conduct inspections and repairs. Submitted by: Ali Darwish (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Dr. Arie Nakhmani (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Shushan Vardanyan (University of Alabama at Birmingham), Analyn Bengs (University of Alabama at Huntsville), Nicholas Gorgone (George Washington University), and Collin McMahon (Auburn University)
- InfinitPipe: A Breakthrough for the Pipeline Industry – a new product and production method for the pipeline construction and repair industry to manufacture joint-less composite pipe onsite. Submtted by: Mo Ehsani, President/CEO of Quakewrap, Inc. (Tucson, AZ) and Bahira Abdulsalam (University of Arizona)
- Building-Batteries for a Power Plant City – a plan to integrate a large-scale renewable energy generation capacity in U.S. cities through an urban reform strategy and a new building typology. Submitted by: Emanuele Lisci (Auckland, New Zealand)
- Air Travel is the Future – a proposal to create hyper-connected airports that are seamlessly integrated into a city’s transportation fabric. Submitted by: Baiyu Chen (University of California at Berkeley) and Anthony Barrs (San Francisco, CA)
AEM says the final phase of the program can be followed here, and all phase winners will be featured at the Tech Experience at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
