Votorantim Cimentos North America Joins the Global Plug and Play Innovation Platform to Accelerate Innovation and Sustainability Initiatives

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Jun 16, 2022, 14:27 ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Votorantim Cimentos North America (VCNA), a leading supplier of building materials to the construction industry in the U.S. and Canada, has partnered with Plug and Play, the world's leading Silicon Valley-based corporate innovation platform. VCNA joined the Plug and Play Sustainability Platform to leverage early-stage emerging technology incubating in Silicon Valley and around the world. The VCNA-Plug and Play collaboration will enable VCNA and its business units to source and partner with top technology startups to support its innovation strategy in themes like construction site optimization and decarbonization initiatives.

"Working with Plug and Play provides us with access to a unique startup ecosystem with global reach that we can leverage as another strategic tool to enhance our innovation and sustainability efforts," said Filiberto Ruiz, Chief Executive Officer, Votorantim Cimentos North America. "We anticipate their combination of speed and extensive portfolio of potential partners will help accelerate our processes to generate value to our customers and technological improvements, as we provide more sustainable solutions for the construction industry."

Plug and Play specializes in driving innovation in over 20 different industries, including Sustainability. The program covers a wide range of technologies representing almost every function regarding sustainability within the construction site and more. The partnership with VCNA will accelerate the development of technology solutions that correspond to a wide range of focus areas such as digitization, new materials, new constructive methods, carbon reduction technologies, as well as carbon capture storage and utilization.

"We are very excited to welcome VCNA and St Marys Cement as recognized leaders in the construction industry, to join our open innovation platform," said Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO, Plug and Play. "Their commitments to sustainability and the exploration of new cutting-edge technologies sends a clear message that they are ready to collaborate with startups and industry leaders to advance innovation in their offerings."

About Votorantim Cimentos North America (VCNA)

VCNA comprises the North American operations of international building materials and sustainable solutions provider, Votorantim Cimentos. Through its St Marys Cement, Canada Building Materials (CBM), Prairie Material, Superior Materials and United Materials operating units and distribution network, Votorantim Cimentos North America supplies cement, concrete and aggregates to construction customers in the Great Lakes region, Eastern Canada and the Northeast United States. Votorantim Cimentos was founded in 1933 and, today, has more than 12,000 employees. Its building materials portfolio includes not only cements, but also concretes, mortars and aggregates. The company also operates in the areas of agricultural inputs, waste management and co-processing. Votorantim Cimentos' units are strategically located in proximity to the most important growing consumer markets in 10 countries, in addition to Brazil: Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Luxembourg, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United States and Uruguay. More information at www.votorantimcimentos.com.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 40+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

SOURCE Plug and Play