The juries of the 2024 edition of the 2024 edition of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics-BBVA Foundation Physics Awards have decided to award this award in the category of "Physics, Innovation and Technology" to Román Orús, Ikerbasque professor at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and co-founder and scientific director of Multiverse Computing.
In their decision, the juries highlight Orús' extensive career in the field of quantum technologies. "Their contributions have generated important technological developments in the field of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. It also recognises the innovation achieved through the creation of Multiverse Computing, one of the most important quantum software companies in Europe," says the RSFE-FBBVA announcement.
"I am deeply grateful to receive this significant award. For me this is a very special award not only because it comes from the Spanish Royal Society of Physics, but also because of the recognition it represents for the work in innovation and technology transfer that we have carried out, both from DIPC and from Multiverse. It is a real honour," said Román Orús after learning of the jury's decision.
Román Orús' candidacy was presented by the Donostia International Physics Center, an institution to which he has belonged since 2018 as an Ikerbasque research professor, and which since its origins has been committed to attracting excellent researchers, offering them an environment of autonomy and freedom to explore new ideas.
Currently, the DIPC is the BERC (Basque Excellence Research Centre) chosen by the Basque Government to lead the field of "quantum technologies" of the IKUR strategy, and plays a fundamental role in the BasQ (Basque Quantum) programme, promoted by the Basque Government and the three provincial councils, which will promote research, talent generation and innovation in quantum technologies in the Basque Country and deploy IBM's sixth quantum computer in Donostia/San Sebastián in the Basque Country. the world.
The president of the DIPC, Pedro Miguel Etxenike, congratulated Román Orús for this award and pointed out that "for the DIPC it is a great joy that such a distinguished member of our community is recognized by the Royal Spanish Society of Physics. It is also a recognition of the commitment that the DIPC and the Basque Government have made to quantum technologies and their applications".
An example of this commitment is Multiverse Computing, a software company for quantum computers co-founded by Román Orús in 2019 in Donostia, with the support of the DIPC and local institutions such as BIC Gipuzkoa. Multiverse has been recognized worldwide as a pioneer in the use of tensor networks for industrial applications, ahead of much larger companies such as SandboxAQ (Google spinoff), Amazon AWS, and NVIDIA. CompactifAI, one of Multiverse's products, has been recognized by entities such as NVIDIA and Intel as a revolution in the field of AI, allowing a very significant reduction in energy consumption and opening the possibility of deploying these models for the first time without the need for a cloud connection.
Learn more here: Román Orús receives the "Physics, Innovation and Technology" award from the Spanish Royal Society of Physics | Parke