Budapest/Leipzig, May 5, 2023. Gyula Pomázi, the president of the Hungarian National Office for Intellectual Property, presented the Ányos-Jedlik medal to Dr. Levente Ondi, Director of XiMo Hungary Kft. Speaking in the beautiful surroundings of the Hungarian National Museum, he paid tribute in his laudation to Ondi’s extraordinary achievements in the further development and industrialisation of the so-called Schrock-type olefin metathesis catalyst.
Under Levente Ondi’s leadership, XiMo has succeeded in taking the molybdenum- and tungsten-based catalysts developed by the company’s founders, Professor Richard Schrock (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Professor Amir Hoveyda (Boston College), to a new level and transferring them to an industrial scale. With the commercial synthesis of its catalyst, XiMo has established a technology that facilitates completely new applications for the flavour, fragrance, bioenergy, and polymer industries, as well as for use in sustainable crop protection.
XiMo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG, Germany. The catalyst technology has a key role in the diversification and growth strategy of the VERBIO Group, making it possible to develop the Group’s new business of manufacturing renewable-based value-added chemicals. VERBIO is investing in an ethenolysis plant at its site in Germany and in a production plant for metathesis catalysts in Hungary in order to make use of the pioneering technology for the production of renewable-based chemical components.
“I am very pleased that our joint work over the past twelve years has been recognized with this award. Although the prize carries my name, it is a recognition of the support, guidance, and inspiration that I have received from colleagues, teachers, mentors, friends, and family during my entire lifetime. This would not have been possible without them,” said Dr. Levente Ondi, who joined XiMo Hungary Kft. in 2010 and has been managing the operation of the company since 2018.
“Dr Levente Ondi embodies my description of a visionary. His passion, his thirst for knowledge and his determination have made him what he is today: an exceptional scientist, who is now rightly being recognised for his work. It makes me proud to have people like him at VERBIO. Together, we have a big future in front of us. This is about nothing less than the green transformation of the chemical industry,” said Claus Sauter, Chief Executive Officer of VERBIO AG.
About the Ányos-Jedlik Prize
The Ányos-Jedlik Prize was created in 1996 by the Hungarian Minister of Industry and Trade at the initiative of the President of the Hungarian Patent Office, in order to recognise the work of outstandingly successful inventors and the achievement of excellent standards in science and efficiency in the protection of industrial property.
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Press Contact: Levente Ondi (Managing Director XiMo Hungary Kft), info@ximo-inc.com