Concretene has secured £4.5m to scale production of its biogas-derived graphene admixture, designed to cut cement content in standard mixes by 10–20% with no loss of strength, durability or changes to batching and placement. The University of Manchester spin-out will use wastewater biogas from United Utilities to manufacture carbon-negative graphene at multi-tonne scale in Manchester under a circular production model. Backed with £2m from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance plus follow-on investment from LocalGlobe and Molten Ventures, the funding will support industrial-scale admixture manufacture and large concrete trials with partners including Arup.

Royal Engineers have trialled low-resource concrete mixes using crushed recycled brick as aggregate, salt water as mix water and on-site 3D printing to build structures in conflict and disaster zones where fresh water and conventional materials are scarce. The work focuses on rapidly deployable field production, aiming to print blast walls, shelters and foundations without fixed batching plants or potable water supplies. For civil and military engineers, the approach raises design questions around chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion, variable brick aggregate grading and verifying strength without standard laboratory testing.

The US Commerce Department plans up to $389 million in semiconductor and power technology funding, including $56 million for Sibelco to develop next‑generation ultra‑high‑purity quartz purification, a key bottleneck material for chip fabrication. Helion and Commonwealth Fusion Systems could receive $175 million and $85 million respectively for high‑voltage power semiconductors, RF plasma‑heating chips and radiation‑hardened electronics for fusion generators operating under extreme electrical and radiation loads, while Vertical Semiconductor may get $73 million for vertical gallium nitride devices for AI data centre racks. All awards are preliminary and tied to minority, non‑voting federal equity stakes.