Research
Academic collaborations
Field trials run with UC Davis (California) and NAIT (Alberta), alongside the growers and operators who host trials in six countries.
RHST Industries Inc., founded by Thomas Gradek, has developed and patented WaterPearls, a nature-based water-retention technology that directly addresses freshwater shortages and supports climate-resilient agriculture.
RHST Industries was founded with a single goal: providing a sustainable and natural means to enhance crop productivity and increase water efficiency. The answer came from engineering a proprietary organic diblock-polymer bead, which we now call the WaterPearl.
The water-retention system was patented in the United States in 2018 (U.S. 9,901,043, family filed since 2013), and WaterPearls have run in field trials across six countries.
International recognition
NCPD Innovative Technology Excellence Prize 2025 (Saudi Arabia), Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label (2020 and 2023), VivaTech 2026 Top 400 Tech for Change, and a vineyard water solution featured by the Porto Protocol. Field trials and academic collaborations go back to 2016.
Engineer, researcher and founder of RHST Industries. Thomas led the WaterPearls development, from research on super-hydrophobic, organic diblock-polymer materials, through patent and field-trial validation, to trial projects in six countries.
His conviction: agriculture's water-vs-yield equation is not fixed. The right material can re-engineer it.
Research
Field trials run with UC Davis (California) and NAIT (Alberta), alongside the growers and operators who host trials in six countries.
Verification
An ISO 14046-based Water Impact Report prepared by Oxia Initiative and financed by AquaAction, plus VWBA 2.0 water-benefit accounting for WRIA™ projects.
Recognition
NCPD Innovative Technology Excellence Prize 2025, Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label (2020 and 2023), VivaTech 2026 Top 400 Tech for Change, and a vineyard case featured by the Porto Protocol.
Partners
RHST licenses its technology to strategic operating partners. That is the route from patented IP to larger field projects. Partners & licensing →
Real field trials since 2016.
The surface and subsurface water-retention system enters the patent process.
Trial projects in China, South Africa, Jordan, the USA, Canada and Australia, with academic collaborations including UC Davis and NAIT.
U.S. patent 9,901,043 granted for the water-retention system, with protection running to 2034.
WaterPearls earns the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label from the Solar Impulse Foundation, assessed by independent experts.
WaterPearls receives the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution label, assessed by independent experts.
RHST WaterPearls wins Saudi Arabia's NCPD Innovative Technology Excellence Prize, selected from 35 countries for water-use efficiency in date-palm agriculture.
Across pilots since 2016: 360 million WaterPearls deployed, ~3.3 ha (360,000 ft²) of cumulative crop area, and ~10 million litres of measured water savings.
Selected among VivaTech’s Top 400 “Tech for Change”, presenting the Water Replenishment Infrastructure model for AI data centers.
RHST Industries operates from the greater Montréal area, close to leading Canadian agricultural research and a short flight to our international trial sites. We work with growers, utilities and research institutions in six countries.
