Kolon Benit said on the 27th that it participated as a sponsor in the Quantum Computing hackathon "Quantum Reframing Challenge 2026 (QRC 2026)," co-hosted and organized by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and Megazone Cloud.
QRC 2026 was arranged as part of the government research and development (R&D) project "establishing quantum computing services and utilization systems," in which the Ministry of Science and ICT serves as the lead ministry. It wrapped up with the offline finals and awards ceremony held on the 26th at the Samjung Hotel in Seoul.
The event redefined tough industrial field challenges into problems solvable with quantum computing and proceeded by verifying real-world feasibility using quantum infrastructure. A total of 214 people in 73 teams, including graduate students, researchers, and industry employees, participated, and 12 of the 54 teams that submitted preliminary proposals advanced to the finals.
Participants used generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, as well as quantum hardware and simulator environments including IonQ, Quandela, and Pasqal provided by KISTI, to implement their proposals and verify performance.
Kolon Benit created a "Kolon custom track" to explore the possibility of applying quantum computing to Kolon Group's industrial sites, such as manufacturing optimization, healthcare, and AI/Machine Learning. Kolon Industries and Kolon Benit presented industry topics, and Kolon Benit's industry experts provided mentoring to participating teams.
The custom track operated under two themes: "material structure and property prediction" in the manufacturing and chemical fields, and "business value combination optimization" in new businesses. Kolon Benit presented the "Kolon special award" to the "QAIST" team and the "QR2026_08" team for their strong performances in each theme.
For the winning teams, it plans to consider linking to proof of concept (PoC) and supporting joint projects. Follow-up cooperation such as internships and hiring links may also be pursued after separate reviews and internal procedures. Kolon Benit plans to use this event as an opportunity to redefine industrial site problems from the perspective of quantum technology, review applicability, and identify related tech talent early.
Lee Seung-jae, head of the future technology team at Kolon Benit, said, "Quantum computing is a next-generation technology that enables new approaches to complex industrial optimization problems," adding, "through this hackathon, we will redefine the challenges facing Kolon's industrial sites from a quantum perspective and concretely explore applicability."