“At a certain point I said to myself: why not use this combined intelligence of humans and nature to produce high added value products beside high quality reusable water? Instead of getting rid of the waste, let’s turn it into something useful!” - István Kenyeres

These words of its founder describe exactly what the Hungarian startup Biopolus is currently doing. It develops and sells efficient, beautiful living factories – called BioMakeries – to convert wastewater and almost any kind of organic material into products for sale.

Biopolus was founded in 2012 by István and his son Márton Kenyeres. After several successful businesses under their belt in seemingly diverse fields István and Márton started this new venture with the firm believe that the key to our sustainable future lies in the blend of biotechnology and information technology. Their primary focus area is the development of integrated smart solutions for cities to improve efficiency and urban metabolism.

István is a chemical engineer and biotechnologist with a 35 year career in the field. Before starting Biopolus he was the founder of Organica Water and the inventor of the company’s state-of-the-art wastewater treatment technology that utilizes engineered ecosystems with thousands of species from bacteria to plants to clean water in a garden like environment. Márton is coming from an IT background with experience in software development including modeling and controlling of complex processes like wastewater treatment plants.

Central in Biopolis’ approach is that they conduct very intense desk studies at other companies (even in other countries) in order to share expertise and learn from each other. It is also a way to initiate collaborations which can benefit the sustainable future. Since the majority of human population is now living in urban areas it is becoming apparent that the take-make-dispose mode in which cities traditionally function is not sustainable.

The Biopolus Institute is working on solutions that can close the urban water, energy, organic waste and food loops. It is offering strategic consulting for cities and townships providing useful insight and advice for theirenvironmentally and economically sustainable development. These concepts are based on the assessment and mapping of present and predicted water, energy, food and waste flows.

Biopolus is also developing a range of its own technologies for addresing some of the typical challenges presented in moving towards a crcular economy. These range from innovative water treatment technologies to biological production systems and urban farming solutions. The Biopolus Institute is continuously looking for development and research partners both from industry and academia.

You can learn more about Biopolus and the people behind it from the March 23th edition of VPRO Tegenlicht titled “Water and the Circular Economy”.