When Siemensadded multiscale chemistry modelling company Culgi to its Xcelerator portfolio in November of last year, it gained instant expertise in soft materials simulation, quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics.
“Innovations in soft materials engineering begin at the quantum and molecular levels,” said Jan Leuridan, Senior Vice President, Simulation and Test Solutions, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “With Culgi technology as part of the Simcenter portfolio, process engineers will gain access to a comprehensive digital twin that combines micro-scale, meso-scale and macro-scale modelling. This tightly integrated workflow enables the design exploration of advanced materials in the context of product performance objectives, and we welcome the team to Siemens.”
While Culgi’s CEO and founder Johannes Fraaije, who now has the role of Chief Science Advisor PLM at Siemens Digital Industries Software, the acquisition was interpreted this way:
“We are excited to join Siemens and help create the future of simulation software. Virtual screening of novel materials in an early stage of development is a key enabler of digitalization in the chemical industries. With the integration of Culgi molecular simulation software and services within the Simcenter portfolio, engineers have an extra handle to design materials efficiently and effectively, with desired properties all along the value chain from inception, to process development, to logistics and market analysis.”
Culgi
Founded in 1999 in Leiden, The Netherlands, Culgi’s software can be integrated with other software packages and has been designed to assist companies and academic institutions in different industrial sectors like oil and gas, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Incidentally, Culgi has participated in over fifty industrial projects and a range of European projects, too.
However, what really interests TQD is how the acquisition will improve Siemens’ lot in quantum chemistry simulation software, which is one of only a few packages available in the world that includes all aspects of quantum chemistry. The software can model the behaviour of chemicals in products and processes, thus potentially leading to the speed up in the discovery of innovative new products.
Offering features such as quantum chemistry, coarse-grained modelling, chemical informatics, and thermodynamics. One “unique and powerful feature” of the software is scripted workflows, which can be edited through the proprietary graphical scripting editor or Python scripting. “Either way, scripting is the key to success in modelling a wide variety of systems and this has to be why Siemens made the acquisition in the first place.
With happy customers ranging from French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi Aventis to German chemical giant BASF SE, Culgi’s exciting technology now in the hands of Siemens will “enable performance-driven optimization of advanced materials in both discrete and process manufacturing industries.”
This is just a tale of how bigger multinationals want to capitalize on the technological expertise of smaller players, and how many of them are taking quantum technologies seriously.
James Dargan is a writer and researcher at The Quantum Insider. His focus is on the QC startup ecosystem and he writes articles on the space that have a tone accessible to the average reader.
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