An innovation from Swabia, Germany, for sustainable reconstruction in Ukraine

Julian Bihl heads the Swabian company IBS, which has invented a new type of building material. It can be used to reconstruct roads sustainably. The company has been repairing the war-damaged road network in Lviv since 2025. He received support with this from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH via the  develoPPP funding programme. GIZ implements the programme on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

What motivated you to get involved in Ukraine?  

We would like to gain a foothold in Ukraine because it is a large future market for us. But it's very difficult to get started without contacts. Thanks to GIZ, we have now been able to establish these. Word is gradually spreading in Ukrainian municipalities about the advantages of our technology. I definitely think that there could be follow-up orders. It is important to have a reference project. Other municipalities in Ukraine can see for themselves that our technology works well and is very cost-effective in Lviv . This makes it much easier to acquire further orders. 

What do you do differently from other companies when building roads? 

We match NovoCrete – this is the building material – precisely to the existing material . It is then applied to the surface of the destroyed road and milled into the road with the addition of water. The substance mixes with the existing building material. The surface is then compacted with a roller and asphalted. We don't need gravel because we use the material that is already on the road. This saves resources and energy, and our method is around 70 per cent faster than conventional road construction.  

You now have a good network in Lviv . What role did GIZ play for you here ? 

It probably wouldn’t have worked at all without GIZ. A GIZ business scout heard about our product and got in touch with us. That was a stroke of luck. After we applied to the develoPPP programme, the project was up and running quickly, because GIZ put us in touch with the State Road Agency in Lviv and and the local university. Financing was organised quickly, too. We covered half of the costs, and BMZ covered the other half, which was arranged by GIZ. The city wanted to repair twice the length of the road and paid the additional costs itself. The cooperation was refreshingly straightforward.