Kolon Benit Ltd sponsors KISTI-Megazone Cloud quantum computing hackathon

[Financial News] Kolon Benit Ltd participated as a sponsor in the quantum computing hackathon Quantum Reframing Challenge 2026 (QRC 2026), jointly hosted and organized by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and Megazone Cloud.
On the 27th, Kolon Benit Ltd said that QRC 2026 was carried out as part of the government R&D project "Building a Quantum Computing Service and Utilization Framework," with the Ministry of Science and ICT as the supervising ministry and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) as the specialized agency. It concluded with an in-person final round and awards ceremony held the previous day at Hotel Samjung in Seoul.
QRC 2026 is a hands-on challenge that reframes real-world industrial problems into issues that quantum computing can address, then verifies their solvability using quantum infrastructure. A total of 214 participants from 73 teams, including university students, graduate students, researchers and industry professionals, took part without restrictions on affiliation, major or experience. Of the 54 teams that submitted proposals in the preliminary round, 12 advanced to the finals. Participants used generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Google Gemini, along with global quantum hardware and simulator environments including KISTI IonQ, Quandela and Pasqal, to implement their proposals and test performance.
Kolon Benit Ltd went beyond simple sponsorship and took on a practical role in industry-focused collaboration during the hackathon. To address real-world industrial problems that the Kolon Group wants to explore for quantum computing applications, it launched the Kolon Custom Track in areas such as manufacturing optimization, healthcare, and AI and machine learning. Kolon Benit Ltd also provided mentoring directly from the perspective of an industry domain expert. The Kolon Custom Track was run by having participating teams choose and solve industrial topics designated by Kolon Industries and Kolon Benit Ltd.
Kolon Benit Ltd selected the recipients of the Kolon Special Award on the day. The Kolon Custom Track was operated around two themes: predicting material structure and properties in the manufacturing and chemicals field, and optimizing business value combinations in the new business discovery field. The most outstanding team in each theme was selected. The track focused on practical topics that could be used immediately in the field, emphasizing tasks that could be realized through the combination of AI technology and quantum computing as the industry prepares for the so-called post-AI era. The QAIST team and the QR2026_08 team, which best interpreted the Kolon Custom Track problems and demonstrated their potential for industrial application, will be offered benefits such as review for proof of concept (PoC) linkage and support for joint projects. Additional benefits, including internships and hiring opportunities, may also be provided later if follow-up collaboration takes place, subject to separate review and internal procedures.
Through this participation, Kolon Benit Ltd plans to redefine real-world industrial problems from a quantum technology perspective and gradually explore their applicability, while also using the opportunity to identify future technology talent at an early stage. Quantum computing is drawing attention as a next-generation technology across B2B industries such as manufacturing, logistics, supply chains, energy, AI and data analytics. Based on its industry domain expertise and IT execution capabilities, Kolon Benit Ltd said it will continue to verify the feasibility of quantum applications.

[email protected] Yun Ji-an Reporter