István KENYERES

A chemical engineer and biotechnologist by profession, István started his carrier as a Researcher at the Budapest University of Technology. There, he led a pilot research facility focusing on the development of super-intensive bioreactors and ecologically engineered system designs for resource and protein recovery. After 15 years of intensive R&D work, he left academia and went on to establish and lead several successful companies.

In 1998, István co-founded Organica Water, Inc., where he worked as inventor, president, CEO, and Chairman of the company, playing a major role in its successful buildup. Under István, Organica Water Inc., became the largest Hungarian clean tech company, and by 2006, when they sold the traditional Design, Build and Operational Services business lines to VEOLIA, Organica held 15% market share of the Hungarian market and was the No.1 outsourced industrial wastewater O&M. In 2008, Organica raised capital from American and Austrian VC investors and today it is a global player in the water industry.

However, as a passionate inventor, István wanted to explore new dimensions in water- based urban circularity and so he left Organica, and in 2012 István founded the Biopolus Group, for a new paradigm in water and waste treatment and recovery. The company offers practical circular solutions to close water, food, waste, and energy loops in urban areas. Biopolus has been named an Emerging Innovator by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and its first European facility has won several Dutch awards including: the 2018 Dutch Water Innovation Award and the 2019 Circular Economy Award by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

Over the last 20 years, over 100 biological water treatment systems have been built utilizing István’s inventions. As an adventurous business man, a successful inventor and ecologist, István is continuously invited to give talks at international events and conferences. He enjoys his role as a technical influencer and is proud to have given two TEDx talks, and a keynote at the 2017 Ellen McArthur Foundation Summit.