ORCA Computing and SiC Systems Win 2025 HPC Innovation Excellence Award for Quantum-Accelerated Agentic AI

NOV 19 2025ORCA and SiC Systems have announced their joint project, “Agentic AI for Biomanufacturing Optimization Using Hybrid Quantum–Classical HPC Systems,” has been selected as a winner of the 2025 HPC Innovation Excellence Award, presented by Hyperion Research. The HPC Innovation Excellence Awards program honors outstanding achievements that demonstrate the real-world value of HPC technologies, with the goal of showcasing scientific, engineering and economic impact across industries.Developed in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Novo Nordisk, the project showcases a next-generation Agentic AI framework that integrates photonic quantum processors, GPU-accelerated HPC systems, and autonomous AI agents to optimize complex biomanufacturing workflows in real time.The team’s Sense–Infer–Control (SIC) platform links multiscale digital twins with live process execution, enabling AI agents to autonomously analyze, infer, and tune bioprocesses with greater precision, stability, and reproducibility.“This work demonstrates how Agentic AI can transform industrial bioprocessing,” said Seyed Soheil Mansouri, PhD, Co-Founder of SiC Systems and Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). “By combining digital twins, automation, and quantum acceleration, we unlock new pathways for efficiency and scientific insight.”“AI agents operating on quantum-enhanced infrastructure bring a powerful new paradigm to advanced manufacturing,” said Christopher Savoie, Co-Founder and CEO of SiC Systems. “This collaboration shows how real-time optimization can become both autonomous and explainable.”“This award is an important recognition of how hybrid quantum–AI is delivering practical impact today,” said Dr. William Clements, Head of Applications and Software at ORCA Computing. “Our work with SiC Systems and DTU demonstrates how quantum photonics integrated with HPC can solve real, high-value problems in industry.”Award winners were recognized and celebrated at the Hyperion HPC/AI Breakfast Briefing on November 18th 205 during the SC25 Conference.David Hall DPhilHead of DeliveryProf. Ian Walmsley is Chairman of the ORCA Computing Board and a leading figure in quantum optics, quantum memories and waveguide circuits. He is Provost of Imperial College, London, an Honorary Fellow at St Hugh's College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Society, The Optical Society, the Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society. Previously, he was President of the Optical Society of America, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford and Director of the NQIT (Networked Quantum Information Technologies) hub. Prof. Walmsley is recognised for developing the SPIDER technique for characterising ultra-fast laser pulses.Enhance renewable energy optimisation and accelerate the development of biofuels. Investigating molecular structures is an important pursuit in computational chemistry, especially in fields likes biofuel formulation, material innovation, and pharmaceutical development where research acceleration is critical. The specific problem considered here is significant across the energy industry, as molecule’s possible structures directly determine many of its physical and chemical traits. However, the vast array of possible configurations and high computational requirements make it difficult for traditional methods to find low-energy conformations for certain molecules. ORCA partnered has with bp to explore a hybrid quantum-classical approach using generative adversarial network (GAN) algorithms. This approach aims to generate low-energy conformations of small and medium size hydrocarbon molecules, offering a potential solution to the computational hurdles faced in molecular exploration.