OHL, recognized for its innovation in the national finals of the Quality Innovation Award

The Asociación Nacional de los Centros Promotores de la Excelencia (CEX-National Association of Centers for the Furtherance of Excellence) has granted awards to six companies, including OHL, in the national stage of the Quality Innovation Award (QIA), created in 2007 by Excellence Finland for encouraging innovative projects in companies and organizations, sharing experiences and giving local and international recognition to initiatives. This year more than 400 companies and organizations from 12 countries have participated.

Specifically, OHL received its award for innovation in the large company category, for the development of the Cubipod, an element of artificial rockfill for the construction of the main armor layer of mound breakwaters. OHL together with Axter Aerospace, Medical Simulator, Gilead Sciences, Smart Sensor Technology and Special Materials Machining will enter the international stage of these awards, scheduled to be held on the 8th of February next year at a formal event in Bilbao.

Other recognitions of the Cubipod

The Cubipod has been given a number of important recognitions on the national and international levels. These include the gold medal at the 39th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva; the award to the best Spanish invention by the Spanish patent agency, García-Cabrerizo, in 2011; the National Innovation Prize in 2011 for its first real application in the Port of Malaga, and the recent recognition by the magazine, Actualidad Económica, as one of the One Hundred Best Ideas, in the Industrial Innovation category, in 2017.

OHL has developed and patented the Cubipod, in conjunction with the Polytechnic University of Valencia. To date, it has been used successfully in five projects: the San Andrés seawall (Port of Malaga), the Langosteira Outer Harbor breakwater Phases I and II (Corunna), the La Esfinge Dock outer harbor breakwater (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) and the Algiers Navy breakwater (Algeria). At the present time, bench-scale tests are being carried out for new projects, at top-level laboratories in South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Germany, Denmark and Spain, from which new projects are expected to materialize in the short term. 

The R&D&I team of the OHL Group was presented a new recognition for Cubipod. From left to right, Luis Ballester, Lorenzo Rico, Teresa Sánchez and Miguel Ángel Amérigo