Gábor Bojár (born 27 March 1949) is a Hungarian

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and founder of

Graphisoft Graphisoft SE is a European multinational corporation that designs software, and is headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. As a subsidiary of Nemetschek, Graphisoft develops Building Information Modeling software products for architects, interior ...

, an AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction)

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

company. Graphisoft was acquired by German

Nemetschek Nemetschek Group is a vendor of software for architects, engineers and the construction industry. The company develops and distributes software for planning, designing, building and managing buildings and real estate, as well as for media and ent ...

AG in 2007. In 1973 he received a degree in physics from

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University (, ELTE, also known as ''University of Budapest'') is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in ...

. Bojár started his professional career at the state geophysics institute in the late 1970s. In 1980, when the institute stopped funding his modelling software, he left and began to work as a programmer abroad, together with his student colleague Ulrich Zimmer.

Graphisoft

Between 1982 and 2007, Bojár served as founder and president-CEO of Graphisoft. The company was launched in 1982, when Bojár and Zimmer developed software, assisting the Hungarian ministry of power in solving a major problem with the installation of a soviet nuclear power plant. They used the geophysics institute's computers at night, solved the problem and were awarded $30,000 for their software's 300 engineering maps and drawings. Subsequently, the company re-wrote their software for

Apple Lisa Lisa is a desktop computer developed by Apple, produced from January 19, 1983, to August 1, 1986, and succeeded by Macintosh. It is generally considered the first mass-market personal computer operable through a graphical user interface (GUI). I ...

, which didn't succeed economically, but kept the company alive throughout the 1980s. Bojár had to smuggle four

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

's into

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and was supported with cash by

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

, whom Bojár had first met in 1984. During the 1990s, Graphisoft continued to expand internationally and was eventually acquired by the sectors leading German company Nemetschek AG, in 2007. Under Bojár's leadership, Graphisoft developed from a small two-person venture into the worldwide market leader in the field of 3D building modeling

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

, with more than 300 employees and the firm's earnings growing from $30.000 in 1982 to an estimated $33 million in 2018. In 2002, Bojár named Ray Small as new CEO, remaining active as chairman of the company, in charge of Graphisoft's overall strategy.

Graphisoft Park

Graphisoft Park SE is a real-estate enterprise, founded by Bojár.

Aquincum Institute of Technology

Following the sale of Graphisoft in 2007, Bojár founded the Aquincum Institute of Technology (AIT), a school for information technology and entrepreneurship, in the same year. The school's curriculum offers design, entrepreneurship, and foundational courses in computer science. The subjects are combined with advanced applications in

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and Computer simulation, computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer sci ...

and computer vision for

digital film Digital cinematography is the process of capturing (recording) a motion picture using digital image sensors rather than through film stock. As digital technology has improved in recent years, this practice has become dominant. Since the 2000s, m ...

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

as well as humanities courses related to Hungary's cultural heritage.

Additional memberships

Bojár serves on the board of Masterplast Group.

Awards and recognitions

Bojár has received different national and international awards and prizes. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

in 2007 and in 2014, he received the Iván Völgyes Award of AmCham Hungary. Bojár was awarded the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit () is the fourth highest Order (honour), State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the Order of ...

External links

* Bojár'
CV

High hopes for hi-tech
BBC News.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bojar, Gabor Living people Hungarian computer scientists 1949 births