Giatec Scientific Explained

Giatec Scientific Inc.
Type:Private
Industry:Measuring and testing device manufacturing
Hq Location City:Ottawa, Ontario
Hq Location Country:Canada
Area Served:Worldwide
Num Employees:100-150

Giatec Scientific Inc. is a Canadian-based company with headquarters located in Ottawa, Ontario. It is a developer and manufacturer of nondestructive testing quality control and condition assessment devices for the construction industry.

History

Giatec Scientific Inc. was co-founded by Pouria Ghods of Carleton University and Aali R. Alizadeh of the University of Ottawa in September 2010. The pair began working with advisers at Invest Ottawa, who arranged sources, funding and ideas to bring Giatec's products to the market.

The company's first product was a sensor to detect corrosion speed in the rebar/steel inside concrete. Unlike other non-destructive testing methods available at the time, Giatec used mobile-based applications software and smart technology to collect and analyze data.[1]

In 2012, Giatec became independent of Invest Ottawa.[2] That year, after the collapse of the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake in 2012, Giatec's equipment was used in the forensic structural examination that was initiated as part of the public inquiry.[3] [4]

Giatec has developed a variety of testing devices and sensors for measurement of concrete permeability, electrical resistivity measurement of concrete, half-cell corrosion, corrosion rate, concrete temperature, and concrete maturity.[5] [6] [7] In 2014, Giatec won the Rio Info 2013 Innovation Award, and in 2014, the company was included in the Ottawa Business Journal's annual list of "Startups to Watch".[5] Giatec is also the recipient of Ottawa's Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies,[8] and Canada's Top 500 Fastest Growing Companies in 2018.[9]

Giatec also began to develop Internet of Things (IoT) applications for the construction industry through wireless concrete temperature and maturity sensors.[10] [11] In March 2015, the company released a new electrical resistivity monitoring device that sends data directly to a smartphone through a downloadable application. In October 2016, Giatec released Smart Concrete,[12] a new IoT-based solution for ready-mix concrete producers. Giatec later changed the name of their product due to opposition from Kryton International Inc., which holds trademark registrations for "Smart Concrete".

Giatec was awarded a $2.4M grant by the SDTC to commercialize a new clean-tech solution to optimize the amount of cement used by readymix concrete producers.[13] On Nov. 19th, Paul Loucks (Ottawa tech veteran and former CEO of Halogen Software) joined Giatec as the new CEO of the company.[14]

After 11 years of organic growth, Giatec raised single-digit million Euro strategic funding from HeidelbergCement in May 2022 followed by $5M from BDC Capital to develop and commercialize new software and sensor solutions for concrete monitoring and AI-based concrete mixture optimization.[15] [16]

Products

The Giatec product range of nondestructive testing devices can be divided into three areas: laboratory devices, which include products that can be used to measure the permeability of concrete specimens; hand-held portable field inspection devices that can be used to conduct in-situ condition assessment of concrete structures such as bridges;[17] and embedded wireless sensors for real-time monitoring of concrete properties such as temperature, humidity, maturity, and strength.

These devices collect several types of data:

Notes and References

  1. https://ottawacitizen.com/technology/tech-biz/buried-sensors-cement-giatecs-reputation-for-concrete-solutions "Buried wireless sensors cement Giatec's reputation for concrete solutions"
  2. https://techvibes.com/2013/12/16/three-startups-graduate-from-invest-ottawa-resident-company-program-2013-12-16 "Three Startups Graduate from Invest Ottawa Resident Company Program"
  3. http://www.ohscanada.com/compliance-enforcement/engineer-charged-in-algo-centre-mall-collapse/1002906643/ "Engineer charged in Algo Centre Mall collapse"
  4. Mastromatteo . Michael . May–June 2013 . Forensic engineering report on mall collapse recommends systematic inspection regime . Engineering Dimensions . Professional Engineers Ontario . 2016-03-02 . 2017-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170124042609/http://www.peo.on.ca/index.php/ci_id/26490/la_id/1.htm . dead .
  5. News: Brownlee . Mark . 2014-03-19 . Startups to Watch: Concrete solutions at Giatec Scientific . Ottawa Business Journal . 2016-03-02 . 2016-04-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160414115636/http://www.obj.ca/Other/Special-Reports/2014-03-19/article-3649592/Startups-to-Watch%3A-Concrete-solutions-at-Giatec-Scientific/1 . dead .
  6. News: Attfield . Paul . 2013-10-21 . How small businesses are changing Canada's building sector . The Globe and Mail.
  7. News: Mulholland . Angela . 2013-10-28 . With bridges crumbling, why do we still use concrete? . CTV News.
  8. News: Lord . Craig . May 2018 . Fastest Growing Companies: Giatec brings Internet of Things to concrete . 2018-09-13 . 2018-09-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180914022457/http://www.obj.ca/article/ottawas-fastest-growing-companies-giatec-brings-internet-things-concrete . dead .
  9. News: September 2018 . Growth 500: The Complete Ranking of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies .
  10. Web site: IoT Hero from Giatec Develops "SmartRocks" with Bluetooth . 2016-01-18 . Silicon Labs Community . 2016-03-01 . 2016-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160124213531/http://community.silabs.com/t5/Official-Blog-of-Silicon-Labs/IoT-Hero-from-Giatec-Develops-quot-SmartRocks-quot-with/ba-p/161158 . dead .
  11. News: Pilieci . Vito . 2015-10-02 . Buried wireless sensors cement Giatec's reputation for concrete solutions . Ottawa Citizen.
  12. http://www.giatecscientific.com/smartconcrete/ Smart Concrete
  13. News: Real-time Strength Monitoring for Reduction of Cement in Concrete - Sustainable Development Technology Canada. Sustainable Development Technology Canada. 2018-11-03. en-US. 2018-11-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20181103210449/https://www.sdtc.ca/en/projects/real-time-strength-monitoring-for-reduction-of-cement-in-concrete/. dead.
  14. Web site: Giatec names Ottawa tech veteran, former Halogen chief Paul Loucks as new CEO Ottawa Business Journal. obj.ca. 2018-12-04. 2018-11-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20181120010809/http://www.obj.ca/techopia-giatec-paul-loucks-ceo-halogen-ottawa-tech. dead.
  15. Web site: HeidelbergCement invests in concrete technology company Giatec Scientific . 2022-07-08 . HeidelbergCement Group . en.
  16. Web site: 2022-09-26 . Giatec receives $5 million from BDC Capital’s Cleantech Practice to bolster concrete testing tech . 2023-06-14 . en-CA.
  17. News: Pilieci . Vito . 2011-11-18 . A concrete solution to crumbling structures . Ottawa Citizen.
  18. Web site: Winners of 2019 Corrosion Innovation Awards Honored at Ceremony. nacecorrosion.org. 2019-04-24. 2019-04-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20190424163121/http://nacecorrosion.org/news/winners-of-2019-corrosion-innovation-awards-honored-at-ceremony. dead.
  19. Web site: Expert's Choice: SmartRock . concreteconstruction.net. 2019-04-24.

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