a project to join

Biopolus Institute is a nonprofit R&D organization based in Budapest, Hungary, focused on developing smart, nature-based technologies for urban circularity, efficiency, and climate resilience. Through its consulting and urban planning services, Biopolus integrates high-tech infrastructure with nature-based solutions (NBS) to create sustainable, climate-resilient cities. The Institute's solutions range from innovative water treatment technologies to urban farming and biological production systems, all centered around water-based urban circularity, ensuring energy, food, waste, and resource recovery systems are sustainable and regenerative. The market-ready, full-scale technologies are deployed with the support of strategic EPC partners, delivering specialized equipment, design expertise, and ongoing operational support.

Key projects include:
1. Horizon Europe Danube Region Water Lighthouse Action / DALIA (2023-2027): 22 partners, €8.6M budget, focused on ecosystem restoration in EU freshwaters.
2. H2020 euPOLIS (2020-2025): 27 partners, €11.2M budget, enhancing urban health and well-being through NBS, including a Biopolus surface water treatment system in Denmark.
3. H2020 NextGen (2018-2022): 30 partners, €11.4M budget, advancing circular economy solutions in the water sector, with Biopolus solutions in the Netherlands and Greece.
4. INTERREG Central Europe / CIRCE2020: Facilitating circular economy adoption for industrial symbiosis.

Topic 1. Enhancement of water circularity in industries
Topic 2. Urban water circularity
Topic 3. Resource recovery and valorization
Topic 4. Economic, environmental and social implications of water reuse and recovered products

Biopolus offers a range of stand-alone and integrated technology solutions designed to improve urban circularity and sustainability. These solutions can be applied individually or combined with existing infrastructure to optimize efficiency. For instance, a decentralized wastewater treatment system can be paired with energy and resource recovery technologies to maximize resource use. The treated water can be reused for irrigation, integrated vertical farms, or local water features, while the sludge waste can be upcycled in a composting unit to produce high-quality fertilizer for soil regeneration.

Biopolus' circularity hubs integrate high-tech circular technologies and nature-based solutions, serving as living labs for education and research on engineered ecosystems, resource recovery, and water-based circular economies.

Biopolus excels in optimizing circular engineering designs that seamlessly integrate nature-based solutions into urban environments. Through our urban planning and consulting services, we map and analyze target areas to determine the best ways to integrate new technologies. Using dynamic computer simulations, we model urban metabolic flows - such as water, energy, food, and waste - to identify synergies and opportunities for waste-to-resource transformation.

urban circularity, water treatment, resource recovery, nature-based solution, engineered ecological system

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