1) During the author's term as President of the Concrete Society of Malaysia from 2008-2010, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS and Universiti Malaya made advancements in geopolymer concrete research through postgraduate programs and publications. 2) The Concrete Society of Malaysia aims to facilitate knowledge sharing through its journals and promote commercialization of concrete innovations through partnerships with organizations like Alex's LCM and crowd funding platforms. 3) Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia attracted interest in pervious geopolymer concrete research through a PhD student from Libya who completed his degree in 2019.

1. Concrete serving mankind – challenges and opportunities
Mindful of concrete serving mankind during my two-year term (2008-2010) as President of Concrete
Society of Malaysia (CSM), I was fortunate to have Prof. Rangan to introduce geopolymer concrete into
Malaysia. UTP acted fast to create value, produced several postgraduates and won numerous awards on
concrete innovations. UMP moved it forward with several high impact publications and international
collaborations to globalise concrete innovations.
CSM with three electonics journals should facilitate the sharing of latest concrete knowledge. Zack Lim’s
Academy of Concrete Technology www.aoct.com.my serves to promote good concrete practice.
Alex www.lcm.my with his vast experience and connections abroad could leverage on CSM to bring in
investors to expedite the commercialisation of concrete innovations, especially the home-grown
innovations. A crowd funding platform could be explored as government grants are often viewed as
burden to taxpayers.
After my keynote address in SRM University in Chennai India in 2014, I am amazed at the speed of
innovation in India. You have to admire the productivity of Indian researchers, producing high quality
research with modest facilities.
UTHM attracted the interest of a Libyan student, Salah Arafa who passed his PhD this year on pervious
geopolymer concrete. My heartfelt gratitude to Dr Zurisman for his tireless effort to take over the
responsibility of supervising Arafa till successful completion.
On commercialising concrete innovations, I wish to mention Johnny Cheah who was serving as Vice
President of CSM in East Malaysia during my term. We managed to put foamed concrete wall (kuikwall)
in a 28-storey highrise project in Kuala Lumpur, the Ampang Putra. The project was featured in TV1
Panorama. A group of foreign students were happy to meet Prof. Dhir in a concrete seminar held in PJ
Hilton after the site visit of Ampang Putra.
KUIKwall evolved over the years with the use of AAC panels and engineered stiffeners system. There are
several people whom I like to acknowledge. Earn Pin pin@1.com.my used his IT skiils two decades ago,
to help me promote sustainable concrete practice. Please try google Timber Industrial Ash Concrete to
discover beyond ordinary concrete.
We are now actively promoting lowcarbon Malaysia with a recent launching of the world’s most
advanced silicate paint www.silicatepaints.com to enhance durability and beauty of concrete structures.
CSM has vast potential to create value as concrete remains the most widely used construction material,
with over 7.3 billion m3
produced globally in 2018. Designer concrete as carbon sequestration media and
concrete with specialty coating has potential to produce clean energy.
Concrete innovation network (COIN) (Fig. 1) and concrete technologist nurturing programme (Fig. 2)
have been discussed in CSM council meetings in the past decade. With advancement of data technology,
such venture could be viable in line with the fourth industrial revolution.
CSM – concrete serving mankind
dr.lee@roxsil.com

2. Fig. 1 Concrete Innovation Network (COIN)
Fig. 2 Concrete technologist nurturing programme