UMaine's Bridge-in-a-Backpack spinoff signs international marketing agreement

Courtesy / University of Maine Habib Dagher, executive executive director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, speaks at Thursday's announcement in Orono that UMaine's Bridge-in-a-Backpack spinoff company had signed a North American marketing and distribution agreement with an international construction and engineering firm,

PHOTO / Amber Waterman Wyman & Simpson President Doug Herman, shown in this 2012 Mainebiz file photo, stands near the $764,000 Royal River bridge in Auburn, which used Bridge-In-A-Backpack technology for its construction

Write a Comment

By Staff

The University of Maine’s Bridge-in-a-Backpack spinoff company has signed a North American marketing and distribution agreement with an international construction and engineering firm that intends to expand the innovative composite bridge technology eventually into international markets.

Advanced Infrastructure Technologies LLC, the UMaine spinoff, announced Thursday that it had signed an exclusive agreement with Terre Armee Group/Reinforced Earth Co., an international firm operating in 60 countries.

AIT commercializes the composite arch bridge technology developed by UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center that was branded as “bridge in a backpack” because it used easily transportable flexible tubing that could be quickly assembled onsite and reinforced with high-tech composites and concrete.

The innovative composite bridge system, the first to be approved in the AASHTO code, lowers construction costs, extends the structural lifespan up to 100 years and is a sustainable alternative to traditional construction methods.

The technology has received major awards and recognition, including the 2015 White House Transportation Champions of Change, 2010 Most Creative Product by the American Composites Manufacturing Association and the 2011 Charles Pankow Award for Innovation from the American Society of Civil Engineers. It has been used in 21 bridges in the United States and beyond, according to UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s website.

“This is a tremendous step forward for our patented bridge technology and its commercialization partner AIT to sign a distribution and marketing agreement from a multibillion-dollar international construction and engineering company,” said Habib Dagher, executive director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, and the primary inventor of composite arch bridge technology. “AIT was able to attract the attention of such a substantial firm due to the value of the Bridge-In-A-Backpack technology, its continued R&D partnership with UMaine.” [For a short video link to Thursday's announcement, go here.]

World leader with $3B in annual revenues

The Terre Armee Group operates through more than 30 companies in 60 countries, according to a UMaine release about the distribution agreement. The company is best known for its work in the mechanically stabilized earth market, where it has completed more than 50 million square feet of retaining walls around the world in its 45-year history. It is part of the Soletanche Freyssinet Group, a multinational civil engineering group specializing in bridges, retaining walls, concrete repair, ground improvement and deep foundations with more than 22,000 employees working in more than 100 countries and annual revenues exceeding $3 billion.

“Being the inventor and world leader of the MSE retaining wall market gives us a strong platform for expanding the use of new technologies,” Roger Bloomfield, CEO of the Terre Armee Group, said in a statement accompanying Thursday’s announcement. “In recent years, we have annually averaged a supply of over 200,000 square meters of precast concrete arches. Adding the composite arch bridge system to our portfolio is an exciting development that will fuel the growth of both Terre Armee and AIT in the coming years.”

Greater access to international markets

Brit Svoboda, CEO of AIT, said the exclusive partnership with Terre Armee will strengthen AIT’s presence in the U.S. and Canada by leveraging Terre Armee’s “long-term and extensive market share” and “by adding personnel resources and financial strength to AIT.”

Svoboda also said the partnership also offers AIT greater access to international markets through its “significant global presence.”

“We look forward to accelerating AIT's growth through this arrangement,” Svoboda said.

David Bernhardt, commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation, said the state has been an active partner in advancing with UMaine and AIT the bridge-in-a-backpack technology. It also has identified composite bridge technologies such as the Hillman Composite Beams —formerly manufactured at Harbor Technologies in Brunswick, which dissolved and became a division of Kenway Corp. in Augusta in October 2015 — as a promising way to extend the lifespan of new bridges to 100 years or more.

“I look forward to all of the exciting possibilities that will benefit the industry and the transportation infrastructure as a whole,” said Bernhardt, who also serves as the president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.