Innovation in action is a common characteristic of the winning projects in the 46th Annual Design Awards Competition of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). Nine projects were selected in the bridges category, 18 projects received awards from the buildings jury, and eight projects were honored by the special awards jury in categories for innovation that advanced the industry, all-precast concrete solution, and sustainable design.

Near the end of July 2008, the first of six wind turbine foundations was set at the Thornton Bank Wind Farm, located in the North Sea on a 20 km (12.4 mile) long sand bank near the border between Belgium and the Netherlands. The wind farm is located in almost 30 m (100 ft) deep water and nearly 30 km (18.6 miles) out into the sea, making it invisible from the Belgian coastline. To cope with the demanding loads and environmental conditions, the wind turbines use gravity base foundations made of precast concrete with vertical post-tensioning. The construction of the foundations was a major challenge not only because of the harsh environment, but also because of the innovative method used to install them. Plans call for 54 additional wind turbines.

The new Vanderbilt University Medical Center Medical Research Building IV will house research programs and staff in a state-of-the-art laboratory facility with over 400,000 ft2 (37,000 m2) of contiguous space. Because no green-field sites with access to campus services and utilities were available on the research campus, the best location was found to be a site containing Langford Auditorium and Light Hall. The existing auditorium was, however, booked for the foreseeable future and had the only 1200 seat auditorium on campus--it could not be closed. Using an innovative post-tensioned concrete truss system constructed around a grouted and post-tensioned steel tube truss that supported the formwork, the design and construction teams were able to span the existing auditorium and still meet strict deflection criteria for the 11 stories of new research area the trusses supported.